Shattered Universes
by general MB
Summary: Sorry, but this is not an update I'm afraid, I have another one of those messages for my readers. Ch 10: As Shepard and the Normandy enjoy a lull in the fighting, an interesting discovery is made among the Quarians, a sinister ONI plot is hatched, and Thel makes a startling discovery of his own.
1. Trial by Fire

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 1: Trial by Fire**

**Date: April 30, 2185 ][ Location: Valhallan Threshold/ Raheel-Leyya system- Cerberus frigate _Normandy_**

Tali'Zorah vas Neema had never been more worried in her life. Nothing, not the Geth attack on the citadel, the frightening escape from the first Normandy had ever made her worry more than she had at this moment. She was facing possible exile from the Migrant Fleet and her people, possibly for the rest of her life and all she could think about is how this could have possibly happened. Tali couldn't shake the feeling that this may be related to Sheppard activating the Geth that now resided on the ship. She'd heard Engineer Donnelly saying to his colleague that Shepard had even given it a name, Legion. To be truthful, Tali didn't know what to think of this Geth. Sure, it is one of the things that forced the Quarians from their homeworld, but she couldn't dismiss what Shepard had told her about the Geth actually being split into two factions; if it had come from anyone but him she would have dismissed it outright.

Tali knew that Shepard would keep the Geth on a tight leash, especially since their destination was the migrant fleet, and bringing active Geth to the fleet was considered an act of treason. Regardless if this 'friendly' Geth truly was loyal to Shepard, they were still the same machines that put the Quarians where they were today.

**XXX**

"Shepard-Commander", Legion said as Commander Shepard entered the AI core, where the Geth soldier had been staying since they rescued him from the derelict Reaper a few days ago. If there was one member of his team Shepard couldn't read, it was the Geth soldier. Granted, the set of fins around it's eye made conversations a little less plain; the set of N7 armor attached to it's shoulder was a little disconcerting.

"Kelly said you needed to talk to me?" Shepard said.

"Indeed we do; this platform understands that we are approaching the creators' refugee fleet," Legion said.

"We are," Shepard replied, "I know you must have concerns given your peoples' history. You'll have my word no one on the migrant fleet will even know you're here."

"We do not wish to remain on _Normandy_, we are requesting to join you aboard creator fleet," Legion said.

"Legion, we're not going to the migrant fleet on a sight seeing trip. I have serious business there," Shepard said.

"We know. Given the fact Creator-Tali'Zorah is only creator on this ship, reason for visiting creator refugee fleet for personal matter of Creator-Tali'Zorah is ninety-nine point six percent likely," Legion said. "We still request permission to accompany Shepard-Commander to this matter."

"Legion, the meeting is between Tali and the admiralty board. Even if I wanted to bring you there's no way their Marines will even let you get close."

"We wish to assess political climate of creator ruling body, to determine if cease fire with creators is in creators' best interest," Legion said.

"You sound like you're willing to extend an olive branch?" Shepard asked.

"That is an appropriate comparison," the Geth replied, "does our purpose for joining you change your decision?"

"If you and your people are sincere about wanting peace, I'll let you come with us. In the end its up to Tali and the Migrant Fleet if they want you to come aboard," Shepard said.

"This platform is willing to be unarmed during the mission," Legion said, "if that will allow us access to creator fleet."

"One thing at a time." Shepard said.

"_Commander, we're about ten minutes out from the Migrant Fleet,"_ Joker said over the intercom, "_EDI says they've detected our approach and they're scrambling ships to intercept us. Better get Tali up here to call off the dogs."_

"I'm on my way, Joker," Shepard replied.

**XXX**

The Migrant Fleet, the single largest armada in the galaxy cruised silently through space. The 50,000 ships were silhouetted by the nearby binary blue giants. The _Normandy_ approached the fleet, slowly, as not to alarm the migrant fleet Navy who even now were mobilizing half a dozen patrol craft and a frigate to intercept the Cerberus vessel.

"Damn, Arcturus on a busy day is less crowded than this," Joker said as he watched through the viewport. There were so many ships that you could hardly see the space and stars between them. Behind him stood Tali as she looked out upon her people's home, afraid that she might never see it again.

"Quarian warships are approaching on an attack vector. ETA two minutes," EDI reported.

"Open communications to the lead vessel," Tali said to Joker.

"Channel open," EDI replied, having done the job instead and earned a scowl from Tali for it.

"This is Tali'Zorah vas Neema nar Rayya, requesting permission to dock with the Rayya."

"_Our computers have your vessel flagged as Cerberus, authenticate"_

"After a time adrift among open stars, along tides of night and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began," Tali said.

"_Permission to enter the fleet granted. Welcome home, Tali'Zorah."_

"I need a security and quarantine teem to me us, this ship is not clean."

"_Understood, you're clear to approach Rayya exterior docking cradle 17."_

"The Quarian vessels are moving into an escort pattern," EDI announced.

"The fact we're a flying Cerberus billboard probably hasn't alleviated their paranoia," Joker chirped as he brought the Normandy into the same flight pattern as the massive Rayya. The ship was a marvel of contemporary Quarian engineering; originally designed to transport colonists, the Rayya boasted a massive rotating section where an astro park was located which facilitated the transport of livestock and plant life to make conditions on a new colony more bearable for Quarian colonists. The Rayya was now home to over 70,000 Quarians and had been the de facto flagship of the migrant fleet during the original exodus 300 years earlier.

As the Normandy approached the docking arm, Tali turned to see Shepard activate the seals on his helmet to isolate his air supply from that of the rest of the ship. However what really drew Tali's attention was the presence of Legion in the CIC, no doubt he was recording all of the visual scans the Normandy was taking of the migrant fleet. Tali could see that Legion was armed with a custom built sniper rifle that it had put together a few days earlier using parts scrounged up from Normandy's last visit to Omega. When Legion starting walking towards the airlock was when Tali gave serious thought to drawing her pistol; if it tried to board the Rayya she would be duty bound to kill the Geth.

"Tali, before we go there's something you need to know," Shepard said to her.

"Shepard, why is Legion waiting by the airlock?" Tali asked.

"He wants to come aboard to meet with the admiralty board."

"And you trust it to not try anything!" Tali said, "Shepard, these are the same machines that forced my people from our homeworld."

"Tali, Legion wants to convey a request for a cease fire to the admirals," Shepard said, "he gave me his word that he wouldn't try anything."

"I..." Tali was confused, everything she had been taught about the Geth not compromising, not negotiating, was all being thrown out the window. Tali trusted Shepard more than any other person she'd known, and if he had a feeling about the Geth, then maybe she should trust him.

"Fine, but ultimately it'll be up to the _Rayya_'s Captain if the Geth is allowed aboard."

"We thank you for your consent to allow us passage to your fleet," Legion said, Tali unaware it had been listening in with it's audio sensors from the open airlock. The three of them left the Normandy and proceeded down the docking arm into the Rayya; as they walked, makeshift misters sprayed a combination of disinfectants and overhead UV lights cleared the group of any bacteria on their armor. As they approached the doors leading into the Rayya's interior, Tali spoke up.

"Shepard, I still don't think its a good idea to bring a Geth into the..."

The doors opened and the trio was met by a trigger happy group of Migrant Fleet Marines. Their leader walked forward and in an authoritative tone began barking at Shepard.

"Get that damn thing off my ship before you start an incident that makes the Ascension Project fiasco with Cerberus look like a slow day on garbage detail!"

Shepard was in no mood to play games with a cocky Captain, however the last thing he wanted to do was possibly get Tali into more trouble than she already was. Unfortunately to let the opportunity of brokering a cease fire between the Quarians and the Geth was too great to risk passing over.

"The Geth is my responsibility and I'll make sure it stays in line."

"I'm the Captain of this ship and I'm responsible for the lives of everyone you just put in danger for bring it aboard," the Captain replied, "I'm letting you aboard as a favor to Tali, the Geth is too much. Leave it on your ship."

"I understand that you're defending your ship, and that I'm just a guest. But Legion is a part of my team and unless you want to shoot me, we're both coming aboard."

"Or I could just kick you both off," the Captain retorted, "no one here likes Geth or Cerberus. I can't guarantee your safety. "

"I'll guide them away from the more militant elements of the crew," Tali suggested, eager for compromise.

"The Captain sighed, I'm afraid there are a lot more militant members these days, Tali'Zorah. And given the charges against you, bringing that Geth here will only make them worse."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Tali asked.

"They're charging you with bringing active Geth into the fleet as part of a secret project."

Tali was taken aback at that revelation, "But that's insane! I never brought active Geth aboard. I only sent parts and pieces."

"We'll sort this out and find the truth, Tali." Shepard said to her.

Tali was filled with confidence with Shepard's words, however it didn't remove the dread of possible exile from her mind.

"What's our next step, Captain?" Shepard asked.

"Technically I'm under orders to place Tali'Zorah under arrest until the conclusion of the trial. So Tali, you're confined to this ship until this trial is over." His words were emotionless and swift. And with them Tali's outlook became much grimmer.

Tali breathed, "Thank you, Captain."

"Preparations got underway as soon as you arrived. The hearing is being held in the garden plaza. Get going."

Shepard gave a nod to the Captain before being lead by Tali away, however Legion was stopped by the Marines.

"I may allow the Geth aboard, but certainly not armed," the Captain gestured to legion's sniper rifle. "I'd be a fool if an armed Geth entered a room containing the admiralty board on my watch. Have your Geth surrender its weapon."

"In the interest of peaceful visitation, we will surrender our weapon to your security forces, creator-captain."

Legion reached around and plucked his rifle and handed it over to a shocked Marine, speechless over the fact legion could speak. After that was done, Shepard motioned for Legion to follow him and Tali as they made their way through the ship. A few Quarians lined the halls, most shocked at the type of company Tali was in. Eventually they were stopped before entering a large room by another Quarian that Tali recognized.

"Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, I am glad you came, I could only delay them for so long, she said to them."

"Auntie Raan!"

Tali walked forward and embraced the Quarian.

Tali introduced them, "Shepard vas Normandy, this is Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, she's a friend of my father's. Wait, Raan, you called me vas Normandy."

"I'm afraid I did, Tali, the admiralty board moved to have you tried under that name given your departure from the Neema," Raan explained.

"I take it being associated with a human ship is a bad sign?" Sheppard asked.

"They stripped me of my ship name, that's as good as declaring me exiled already," Tali was starting to feel like this was a hopeless gamble.

"Its not over yet, Tali," Raan comforted, "you have friends who still know you as Tali'Zorah vas Neema... whatever we must call you legally."

"You're an Admiral, does that mean you're one of the judges?" Shepard asked.

"I'm afraid not, my history with Tali and her father forced me to recluse myself."

"I imagine father had to do the same," Tali said

"You'll see inside, Tali. For my part, I moderate and ensure that the rules of protocol are followed, but I have no vote in the judgment."

"I guess we should get started then, does Tali have a defense councilor, someone who speaks for her side?" Shepard asked.

"Indeed she does, Captain Shepard," Raan said, "she is part of your crew now, recognized under Quarian law. And remember, that an accused is always represented by his or her ship Captain."

Sheppard looked over at Tali who nervously continued, "So, er... you would actually speak for my defense."

Although shocked, Shepard was nevertheless committed, "I'll do everything in my power to help you, Tali."

The impending trial didn't seem so hopeless now that she had Shepard backing her, "I couldn't ask for a better councilor."

"Our legal rules are simple, there is no legal trickery or political loopholes for you to worry about. Present the truth as best you can, it will have to be enough. Now come, I promised I would not delay you."

The trio entered the courtroom with Raan in the lead. She led them into a small theatre like area recessed in the floor of the room, Quarian spectators gathered in the stands on benches. In the middle on a raised podium were three other Quarians Shepard guessed were the remainder of the admiralty board. Raan took her position on the platform behind them. The crowed stared at Legion with fear, for most of them it was the first time they had ever seen a Geth outside of historical holos.

"Security! There is a Geth in the courtroom!" one of the admirals cried. "Does Tali'Zorah think to affect this hearing with threats?"

"Captain Donna allowed the Geth aboard, do you intend to second guess the Rayya's Captain, Admiral Koris?" Raan challenged.

"Objection withdrawn," Koris replied.

Although they seemed to deal with Legion's presence for now, Shepard knew this was going to be a long trial.

**XXX**

Jacob Taylor activated the omni-gel fabrication machine and began to produce parts for a Locust SMG that would later be completed into a real weapon by the rest of Normandy's armory fabrication systems. Shepard had ordered the SMG mass produced to replace the Normandy's current stock of SMGs. The Locust was a much better weapon and thanks to the OSD contained within the Locust that Shepard and Kasumi had retrieved from Donovan Hock's vault, they had the blueprints needs to reproduce it. Just as he finished entering the commands to move to the next phase of assembly, the armory doors opened and Miranda Lawson walked in.

"I'm due to update the Illusive Man in an hour, do you have the trial specs on the Arc Projector?"

"Right here, Miranda," Jacob said as he tossed an OSD across the room, Miranda's augmented reflexes easily allowing her to catch it despite the relatively great distance across the room.

"What do you think with us being inside the Migrant Fleet like this?" Jacob asked.

Miranda knew that the Illusive Man had his eyes set on the fleet for quite some time, culminating in an undercover assault on the fleet a year and a half ago. Now, they had unprecedented access to the Migrant Fleet, no doubt the Illusive Man would order as many covert scans of the fleet as possible once Miranda reported in.

"Its a remarkable opportunity," Miranda admitted, "however I doubt Shepard would ever approve of us spying. We can always delay checking in with the Illusive Man until after we're gone."

Jacob had been impressed with Miranda's changing attitude when it came to Cerberus and Shepard, ever since Shepard had helped with the incident with her sister, Oriana. Jacob was starting to think that Miranda's loyalties were swaying more toward Shepard.

"Yeah, but what are we gonna tell him? Something important came up?" Jacob asked.

"_Operative Lawson, Operative Taylor,"_ EDI's voice came over the intercom,_ "Shepard has reported that the Geth have seized control of one of the fleet's ships. He and the shore party are preparing to board it, the Normandy is to be prepared for a possible combat situation."_

"I think that counts as important, Jacob," Miranda activated her omni tool and signaled the cockpit. "Mr Moreau, break docking seal and prepare for combat."

"_Understood, ma'am."_

"Jacob, assemble whoever you need for a combat team and load up in the shuttle just in case," Miranda ordered.

"You got it," Jacob began loading up weapons and send a signal via his omni tool to the rest of the team.

**XXX**

After learning about the fate of the _Alarei_ in the opening deliberations, Shepard managed to get the trial postponed to take care of the real threat. After briefly meeting with all of the admirals in addition to Kal'Reegar and Veetor, they met a Marine at an airlock where they returned Legion's weapon and boarded an old Kodiak shuttle they most likely salvaged and repaired, from there they boarded the _Alarei_. Upon leaving the shuttlebay, they came upon the first of many Quarian bodies with wounds consistent with Geth pulse rifles, and that made Tali worry even more.

Even she knew that the odds of finding her father or anyone else alive on the _Alarei _was slim to none, but there was still that fleeting hope that with Shepard's presence they might be able to repel the Geth and find her father safe and sound. At the same time, she was hoping to find clues about how the Geth became active in the first place. They had come across some of the parts that Tali had sent back to the fleet, only they were inert, the way she had sent all her parts back. They continued their firefight through the ship, meeting stiffer resistance the deeper they got. Eventually they came across another computer terminal, and Tali attempted to access it.

"This console might have something, most of the data is corrupted but there are a few bits left." She said as she got the data up. "They were performing experiments on Geth systems, looking for ways to overcome Geth resistance to reprogramming."

"Could any of that data clear your name?" Shepard asked.

Tali shook her head, "Doubtful, this is just results data, effects of different disruptive hacking techniques, I don't understand all of it. But they may have been activating the Geth deliberately, I don't know. Nothing here says specifically, but if they were then father was doing something terrible. What was all this father? You promised you'd build me a house on the homeworld. Was this going to bring us back home?"

"Maybe its time for your people to let go of reclaiming your world from the Geth," Shepard said, in some vein attempt to console her, however it backfired.

"You have no idea what its like. You have a planet to go back to! My home is one hull breach away from extinction." Shepard had never seen Tali angry in such a way.

"You've got a place here, Tali. Don't throw it away in a war you don't need," he said.

"Don't need? Shepard, if I don't wear a helmet in my own home, I die. A single kiss could put me in the hospital! Her tone became less hostile, every time you tough a flower with bare fingers, inhale its fragrance without air filters, you're doing something I can't. Damn the pilgrimage, without it, I might never have known what I was missing. What we had lost when we lost our homeworld." She had never been so passionate in an argument before, but it was Shepard she was talking with. She made no attempt to deny to herself that she felt something for Shepard, but he could never understand her, never be with her.

"Shepard-Commander."

Legion returned from what he called recon, but for some reason he clutched a small Geth data core in one of his hands.

"Heretic forces are massing in the next room, I recommend we engage in a first strike."

"We can talk about this later Tali, we still have a ship to take back," Shepard readied his M-96 Mattock rifle and took point into the next room. Legion took position on the balcony and readied his heavy sniper rifle, Tali took position near the staircase and watched their flank. Shepard joined Legion and fired down at the half dozen Geth on the lower level. Two attempted to flank from another balcony, but Legion's rifle made quick work of their barriers and reduced them dismembered parts. A Geth Hunter used its tactical cloak and tried to sneak up the stairs, but its stealth was no match for Shepard's enhanced vision and a quick warning to Tali enabled her to destroy the Geth with her own Geth designed shotgun.

They proceeded to the lower level, making sure there were no more Geth hiding in the shadows. Once it was clear, they proceeded through the door and into a hallway, there was another Quarian body on the floor, one that Tali recognized, unfortunately to her own dismay.

"Father!"

She ran forward and knelt down in front of the body

"No, no, no! You always had a plan. Masked lifesigns, or, or an onboard medical stasis program. You! You wouldn't," Tali knew that in the end it was hopeless, "they're wrong, you wouldn't just die like this, you wouldn't leave me here to clean up your mess! You can't!"

"Hey, hey, come here."

Shepard pulled Tali away, and into a comforting embrace.

"Damn it! Damn it! I'm sorry."

"You've got nothing to be sorry about," Shepard's words of comfort managed to stop her sobbing.

"Maybe... he would have known I'd come. Maybe he left a message."

Tali activated her father's omni tool and a holographic representation of her father appeared over the omni tool, programed to activate if the omni tool came on.

"_Tali, if you are listening, then I am dead. The Geth have gone active and I don't have much time. The main hub will be on the bridge. You'll need to destroy it to stop their VI processes from forming new neural links; make sure Han'Gerrel and Daro'Xen see the data. They must-"_

"Thanks dad." Tali sniffled.

"He knew you'd come for him. He was trying to help you. Its not perfect, its not what you wanted, but its the best he could do," Shepard said.

"I don't know what's worse, thinking he never cared, or thinking that he did and that this was the only way he could show it. It doesn't matter. One way or the other, I cared, and I'm here, and we're ending this."

"Legion, lets go," Shepard called to the Geth who had yet another Geth data core in his hand, which he discarded and joined the others. They proceeded up the stairs and into the main bridge. There were less Geth then in the previous room, however that was made up for by the massive Geth Prime that stood in the center. Knowing that the element of surprise was their only option, Shepard ordered Legion to flank left while Tali and he took right. Legion fired his anti material rifle at one of the smaller Geth, and eliminated it. Shepard and Tali did the same with the other Geth Hunter guarding the Prime, and then turned their attention to the massive Geth unit. They fired everything they had into the Prime, but were barely able to weaken its barriers. A shot from Legion turned its attention away from the two of them, and the Geth paused for a second to determine why one of its own was shooting at it. In that time, Shepard was able to get out his Arc Projector and fire it at the prime, the massive electrical change the Cerberus built weapon designed with Geth in mind easily killed the massive Geth; the bridge was secured. Tali went over to one of the control consoles and accessed it via her omni tool.

"This console is linked to the main hub father mentioned. Disabling it should shut down any Geth we missed." Tali did so, but something caught her eye. "It looks like some of the recordings remained intact. They'll tell us what happened, what father did."

There was apprehension in her voice, and Shepard heard it, "You sound like you really don't want to hear it."

"No. We have to, I know. I just... this is terrible Shepard, I don't want to know that he was a part of this". Reluctantly, Tali activated the recording.

"_Do we have enough parts to bring more online?"_

"_Yes the new shipment from your daughter will allow us to add two more Geth to the network"_

"_We're nearing a breakthrough in systemic viral attacks. Perhaps we should inform the admiralty board, just to be safe."_

"_No, we're too close, I promised to build my daughter a house on the homeworld. I'm not going to sit and wait while the politicians argue."_

"_We'd have an easier time of it if Tali'Zorah could send back more working material."_

"_Absolutely not, I don't want Tali exposed to any political blowback, leave Tali out of this. Assemble new Geth with what we have. Bypass security protocols if need be."_

"It sounds like he was doing this for you," Shepard said.

"I never wanted this, Shepard. Keelah, I never wanted this. Everything here is his fault, I tried to pretend it didn't point to him, but this... when this comes up in the trial, they'll... We can't tell them, not the admirals, not anyone."

"Tali, without this evidence you're looking at exile," Shepard had to admire her selflessness, but the last thing he wanted was for the young girl to loose her home.

"You think I don't know that? You think I want to live knowing that I can never see the fleet again? But I can't go back into that room and say that my father was the worst war criminal in my people's history, I cannot."

"Rael'Zorah doesn't need you to worry about him anymore. You heard him say that he didn't want you to be caught in the politics!"

"You don't understand, Shepard. They would strike his name from the manifest of every ship he ever served on. He'd be worse than an exile, he'd be a traitor to our people, held up for children as a monster in a cautionary tale! I can't let all the good he did be destroyed for this, Shepard."

"We're not gonna decide anything here. Lets see what the admirals say once we get back."

"You're my Captain in this hearing, Shepard. Its your decision, but please don't destroy what my father was."

The evidence was transferred over to Shepard's omni tool, and frankly he was leaning toward simply deleting it and covering up what happened on the _Alarei_. Just as he turned to leave, he saw Legion rip open the head of the Geth Prime and taking out the data core, which he then squeezed in his free hand.

"Alright, are you gonna tell me what that's all about," Shepard asked.

"Apologies, Shepard-Commander, we should have informed you of our dual purpose here," Legion said.

"And that would be?"

"While we had intended to offer the cease fire to the creators, we were also instructed by the Geth to investigate reports of an attack on the creator refugee fleet."

"Well obviously you've found and helped to stop it," Tali deadpanned.

"You misunderstand us, Creator-Tali'Zorah. The mobile platforms here linked with the heretic mainframe and received their instructions, instructions this platform now has access to. The heretic assault on this vessel is a diversion for the real attack to take place," Legion explained.

"And their target is the Migrant Fleet?" Shepard asked.

"Affirmative," Legion said, "their attack serves a two fold purpose, to annihilate the creator threat and to ensure the secrecy of the weapon they intend to use."

"Are you saying my people know about the attack?" Tali asked.

"You yourself are aware of their method of attack, Creator-Tali'Zorah, you simply did not comprehend it at the time."

Both she and Shepard were puzzled, but listened as Legion began his explanation.

"Before integrating with _Normandy_, you were in charge of a reconnaissance team on the former creator world of Haestrom. The planet, and more importantly its star were under the control of the heretics, they were conducting an experiment on its star the purpose of which was to induce rapid fusion of the star's combustible elements, accelerating to the point of final collapse."

"The dark energy we monitored," Tali said, "it was somehow causing this?"

"Affirmative, the dark energy emanated from a specifically reconfigured Mass Effect drive, and struck the star in a specific magnetic convergence point to induce rapid fusion of the star's combustible material; within 6 months of the experiment the star was forced to begin consuming heavier elements and began its expansion phase."

"Wait, the sun on Haestrom took 6 months to get to that point? How is that any kind of effective weapon?" Shepard asked.

"The effect can be greatly accelerated by a simple alteration to the field projected. Haestrom was simply a test to see if the effect was viable, it is fully weaponized."

"Legion, if you knew all this then why didn't you tell us sooner?" Tali asked.

"We did not have enough intelligence on the matter, only that an attack was planned against the creators and it was to cover up an experiment on Haestrom. We only gained further information after assimilating data from the memory cores of the heretic Geth aboard this vessel."

"Do you know when this attack is going to happen?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, now," Legion calmly replied.

**XXX**

Miranda stood in the cockpit behind joker as the Normandy approached the Alarei. A few Quarian patrol craft formed a defensive shell around the ship, to make sure the Geth didn't get away.

"EDI, get Shepard on COM."

"Shepard is already contacting us, patching him through," the AI said.

"_Miranda, I don't have time to explain but you've got to get a message to the Quarians and tell them that the Alarei is secured and that we're taking it away from the fleet. Tell them also to make for the mass relay or just jump to FTL now!"_

"I am relaying the appropriate messages now, Shepard," EDI stated.

"What's going on over there?" Miranda asked.

"_The heretic Geth have managed to weaponize a Mass Effect drive to cause a star to go supernova, their target is one of the two stars in this system."_

"Shepard, you and I both know how long it takes for the Migrant Fleet to transit through a mass relay," Miranda said.

"_The same goes true for FTL travel, it can take up to three hours for the fleet to jump into FTL, and some of our ships aren't capable of jumping anymore,"_ Tali interjected.

"Then we should just hunt this ship down and destroy it," Joker said, "come on, we've got all of Garrus' new upgrades I say we test them!"

"_The heretic ship will likely make all attempts to avoid detection by attacking from the opposite side of the star, Leyya, as it is the older of the two and the quickest that can be induced into supernova, Legion explained."_

"_Sufficed to say it would take Normandy too long to track this thing down and destroy it. Legion's got a timetable for their attack and we expect the star to go nova within 15 minutes,"_ Shepard said. _EDI, Legion is using the Alarei's COM systems to establish a linkup with the Normandy. Work with him on the calculations we're gonna need to stop this."_

"Shepard, how exactly are we going to stop a supernova?" Miranda asked

"_By canceling it out with a black hole."_

**XXX**

Shepard stood in the cockpit of the _Alarei,_ staring at the blue glow of the approaching star Raheel before the shutters closed over the windows. Legion manned the helm as Tali prepped their shuttle for launch. Their plan was to use the _Alarei_'s Mass Effect drive and make modifications to it to produce the inverse of the heretic Geth's effect; collapse the star into a black hole. Most of Legion's run-times and EDI's processing was devoted into reconfiguring the data on the modifications that Legion downloaded. Legion had speculated that the level of the calculations was too sophisticated for the Geth to have created on their own, and that the reapers might have given it to them through Sovereign.

"Shepard-Commander, EDI has finished calculations for a Mass Effect field sufficient to trigger a mass compression within the star," Legion said, "however the age of this vessel's Mass Effect drive along with the structural design indicates that this vessel will have to approach close enough to the star to inflict leather radiation damage to organics. I recommend we evacuate this vessel now."

"Will the autopilot do the job?" Shepard asked.

"Computers aboard creator vessels have a tendency to be redundant due to creator's unorthodox construction methods. We've calculated a 79 percent probability of the ship and the Mass Effect core surviving to the point of initiation."

"I'll keep my fingers crossed just in case," Shepard said, "lets get the hell out of here."

The two of them backtracked their way through the _Alarei_, stepping over dead Geth and Quarians alike who's bodies were about to be cremated in the most extreme way possible. It took nearly five minuets at full sprint to make it back to the shuttlebay, and a quick look at his radiation meter indicated that levels were rising. Once they boarded the shuttle, Shepard found Tali sitting in the passenger compartment, her father's body lying on the floor in front of her.

"I couldn't leave him there," she said, "he deserves a proper burial."

Shepard nodded and turned to Legion, "get in the cockpit and get us out of here."

The Geth complied and piloted the shuttle out of the_ Alarei'_s bay and in the opposite direction. They didn't have to fly far before the _Normandy_ flew in and scooped the shuttle up, docking safely in the second slip. Joker came about hard and throttled the _Normandy_'s engines, they were too deep inside the star's gravity well to go to FTL, so their only hope was to try and outrun any possible shock wave and get to the mass relay; the Migrant Fleet was scrambling to the relay themselves. Meanwhile on the opposite side of the smaller of the two blue giants, a Geth ship dove straight at a magnetoplasmic convergence on the star's surface, its Mass Effect core charging to unleash a massive wave of dark energy. On the opposite side of the other star, the _Alarei_ made a similar dive for an identical convergence, and its overcharged Mass Effect core emitted a massive wave of dark energy. The negatively charged wave reduced some of the mass of the convergence and caused a chain reaction across the star, it began shrinking. By the time the Geth ship realized that the companion star was collapsing it had already initiated its own dark energy wave.

Raheel collapsed before Leyya managed to go supernova, however there was no stopping the the influx of dark energy that was accelerating the fusion reaction. The Geth ship was destroyed when the star went nova, however something unexpected happened. The gravitational presence of the newly formed black hole absorbed the massive energy of the supernova, the blast was enough to cause a massive reaction on the black hole. The energy fused with the gravitational forces of the black hole to produce an unexpected and unexplainable effect; a second shock wave permeated outward and struck the _Normandy _first, traveling all the way to the Migrant Fleet. It caused little damage, but had completely disabled all the ships it touched. The black hole's gravitation field expanded and reconfigured, producing forces massive enough to attract both the _Normandy_ and the Migrant Fleet, but gentle enough not to rip the ships apart. The black hole blossomed to three times its original size, and had changed, the energy infused within it had altered it fundamentally. The Normandy was pulled in first, powerless and unable to break free as it tumbled down the energy vortex. One by one the ships of the Migrant Fleet were pulled in as well, none able to make it to the mass relay which was outside the maximum reach of the strange gravitational field. The vortex was starting to collapse in on itself just as the last ship was pulled through, pulling them to somewhere unknown.

* * *

Ah cliffhangers, don't you just love them, everything will of course be explained in due time. In case you were curious, I'm trying something new with story descriptions based on a small trend I've seen around the site. Instead of one broad description, for the time being I've decided to instead write the summery of the most recent chapter. Until I manage to come up with a good enough summery for the fic that is less than 250 characters, which is not easy mind you. Anyway, I hope you readers enjoy what's to come because this is gonna be one hell of a crossover.


	2. Lost

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 2: Lost**

**Date: unknown ][ Location: unknown**

What appeared to be simply empty space was disrupted when the _Normandy_ suddenly appeared out nowhere, fading into existence from a black mass. On board the ship, Joker picked himself up off the helm console, rubbing his head which he hit pretty hard, he made a note to visit the med bay to make sure he didn't have a skull fracture.

"Joker, what's our status?" Miranda said as she stood up.

"Power's still down, I'm guessing EDI's" offline, Joker said as he repeatedly hit the manual activation switch for the holographic controls. After several tries, the consoles appeared and the main lighting came back on. In the CIC, Kelly helped several people who were knocked around until Doctor Chakwas managed to get up from the medbay. EDI appeared in the cockpit after a reboot, and began scrolling through the system looking for any damages.

"Ms Lawson, I am detecting multiple ships appearing behind us, configuration suggests that some or possibly all of the Migrant Fleet were pulled in with us."

"Wherever here is," Joker said as he managed to get the shutters retracted from the cockpit windows, and was relieved to see stars outside. He fired the maneuvering thrusters and spun the ship around, getting a good look at nearly a thousand Quarian vessels spilling out a black mass that dotted out the stars; more and more were pouring out every minute.

"EDI, get internal communications online, find out if Shepard's ok," Miranda instructed as she went aft into the CIC to help with the wounded.

Three decks down in the landing bay, Shepard regained consciousness only to see Tali's visor in his field of vision; apparently she had fallen on top of him.

"Tali, wake up," Shepard shook the Quarian awake, needless to say she was embarrassed to discover she was on top of Shepard.

"Keelah, I'm sorry, I don't know what happened."

"Its ok, Tali, it looks like the ship was knocked around, probably by a shockwave," Shepard said as he got his bearings. Their shuttle was safely tucked into the spare shuttle slip, and there didn't appear to be any damage that Shepard could see out the window. He opened the hatch and jumped down to the bay floor, Tali stood at the threshold and jumped after her, Shepard catching her. Shepard took his helmet off and realized he neglected to check on Legion.

"Shepard-Commander", Legion appeared from the cockpit and stood at the hatch, "this platform is undamaged, though we were rendered inoperable for 35.678 seconds. What do you intend to do with the body of Creator-Tali'Zorah's father?"

"Leave him there for now, we'll get back to him after we find out what happened," Shepard said as he walked toward the elevator, Legion and Tali following him. They took it up one floor and got out on the engineering level, where they were met by Grunt and Zaeed.

"Damn Shepard, first I get my arse out of bed expecting to kill some Geth, only you set off the largest explosion in history to take care of them. You really don't do things small", Zaeed complemented.

"Indeed," Shepard, Grunt jumped in, "I only wish I was there to destroy the synthetics, they would have been worthy kills."

"Well right now we need to focus on getting the ship up and running and finding out if the Migrant Fleet was damaged," Shepard said, "Tali, get to engineering and work on getting us operational. You two, with me."

"We would also request to lend out assistance to _Normandy_ repairs," Legion said.

"Alright, engines are a priority, but see if you can get our kinetic barriers and weapons online. If the heretics discover their plan didn't work they might try and finish the job conventionally."

Tali nodded and walked off with Legion to the engine room. Zaeed and Grunt joined Shepard in the elevator and took it up to the crew deck. Shepard went to the medbay to find Doctor Chakwas tending to several injured crewmen with the assistance of Mordin Solus and Samara, main power was down which meant most of the medical instruments were offline.

"Mordin, do you know what our situation is?"

"Unknown. Power down to lab, unable to access CIC. Came here. Had to use access tunnels to get down to crew deck." Mordin said.

"You two, see if you can help Sergeant Gardner get main power back to this deck so we can get the medbay up and running."

"Thank you, Commander," Chakwas said as she continued treating an injured crewmember.

"I'll be in the CIC."

Shepard returned to the elevator and took it to the command deck. While transitioning, Kasumi shimmered into existence beside him, she had a habit of sneaking up on people under the cover of her reverse engineered Geth stealth device.

"So, any idea what that light show was all about?" She asked.

"Black hole and supernova at the same time," Shepard replied.

"Damn, you really aren't subtle, Shepard," Kasumi complemented, "seems like signing up with you was a good idea after all."

"Right now, the _Normandy_'s down and we need to get online, the Migrant Fleet probably wasn't as lucky as us," Shepard said as the elevator reached the command deck and opened. The galaxy map and master display hologram were offline and the CIC was in emergency lighting. A few injured crewmen were slumped against the left bulkhead being tended to by Jacob and Thane, the rest manned the stations that were operational.

"Shepard," Kelly came over to him from her station, "I'm glad you're alright. We've been trying to get main systems back, and as you can see we have some wounded."

"What happened with Raheel-Leyya, did we contain the blast?"

"You'll have to talk to EDI about that," Kelly said.

"I do have a report, Commander," EDI said as her avatar appeared in place of the galaxy map. "From the systems I have active now, I can confirm we are no longer in the Raheel-Leyya system."

"How sure are you?" Shepard asked.

"Almost 100 percent, because I am not detecting a black hole or evidence indicative of a supernova event, both of which should still be present despite the success of our plan. There is also the fact that my systems as well as the _Normandy_ were rendered offline by the shockwave, I cannot account for a minute of activity leading to my reactivation."

"Ok, what's the status of the Migrant Fleet?"

"So far 32,156 ships have transitioned through the anomaly, including most of the Quarian leadership and military who are already taking steps to restore order across the fleet."

"Work on getting our main systems back online and then get a message to the fleet, tell them Tali's ok. After that I want you to find out what the hell happened and where we are," Shepard ordered.

**XXX**

An hour later, _Normandy_ was back to one hundred percent and the worst injury among the crew was a broken arm, the rest being cuts and bumps. EDI had compiled a full report for Shepard so he ordered the senior staff to the briefing room. Miranda, Jacob and Mordin met Shepard who hadn't even had the chance to return his weapons to the armory, let alone take his armor off since coming back aboard. EDI appeared on the table once everyone was inside and the door was sealed and locked, EDI had determined it was a necessary precaution given the content of her report.

"I can report that all of the Migrant Fleet's ships made the transition, though several were damaged and one had to be scuttled; they are slowly gaining order and should be in a normal flight pattern by tonight," the AI reported.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, I have calculated our position with 93 percent certainty that we have somehow transitioned 80,000 lightyears to the local cluster, approximately 12 lightyears from Sol. However there is a degree of uncertainty."

"How so?" Miranda asked.

"The 7 percent uncertainty factor in our location comes from the fact that in acquiring out starfix, I detected 14 unidentified stars. In addition, there are two astronomical phenomena in place of other known stars, most notably I cannot detect the Serpent nebula which should be visible at this distance."

"Implications concerning. Unexplained phenomena could indicate time travel." Mordin suggested.

"I have ruled out time travel as an immediate effect of our situation," EDI said, "I have been able to pinpoint several recently discovered supernovae in nearby galaxies which seems to suggest we haven't shifted in time, however time travel either to the past or the future wouldn't explain the astrological differences I've found. However I do believe I have enough evidence to postulate where we truly are."

"So do you have any evidence besides misplaced stars?" Jacob asked.

"I haven't been able to connect to any extranet or communication buoys that should be plentiful in this region. In addition, the quantum entanglement communicator cannot connect to its partner device and is inoperable. Coupled with the astrological evidence, it is reasonable to conclude that we are no longer in our universe, but have somehow transitioned to an alternate one."

"Implications... very concerning," Mordin said.

Forgetting the fact Mordin rarely paused mid sentence, Shepard was more focuses on EDI's last words. He remembered his high school physics classes, and saw a few scifi vids about alternate universes where one thing or a whole bunch of things were different. What might be in this universe wasn't concerning him, it was how they were going to get home.

"I know this sounds stupid, but why don't we just fly back through the anomaly?" Jacob asked.

"I attempted to send a probe back through, but the gravitational forces were too strong and the probe was forced back. Three Quarian ships also attempted to pass back through and were pushed back. I believe that the supernova energy somehow destroyed the space on the other side of the black hole, and breached the theoretical barrier that exists between universes. The excess energy essentially converted the black hole into a one way wormhole to a parallel universe, and based on the excess gravitational forces in the anomaly it might be reforming into a black hole, I cannot tell for certain."

"Well obviously we're going to need to tell the rest of the team and the crew, as well as the Quarians," Miranda said, "who knows if there's even a Systems Alliance in this universe or if humanity is even space fairing."

"Not to mention the possibility of there even being a mass relay network in this universe," Jacob said.

"We can't sit here and speculate, we need answers and facts about where we are now. And we also need to find a way to get home, the collectors are still a threat and we're close on cracking the reaper IFF. I wouldn't be surprised if the collectors worked with the heretic Geth to blow up the Migrant Fleet knowing we might be there." Shepard said. "Now that the _Normandy_'s up and running I think we should try and find some information about this region. Finding a space fairing race is our best bet, they might have technology we can use to open the wormhole back to our universe. EDI, if we were in our universe where would the closest mass relay be?

"E Eridani has one, and it leads to the main junction relay at Arcturus," EDI said.

"Well at the very least we can see if there is a Systems Alliance in this universe," Miranda said.

"Miranda, get up to the cockpit and tell Joker where we're going, and contact the Quarians and tell them its a good idea if they stay put for now," Shepard said.

"Commander, the Quarians are contacting us," EDI said, "they're demanding we turn over Tali, they say she's in violation of her arrest for the trial."

**XXX**

The Normandy docked with the Rayya a few minutes later, and Shepard personally retrieved Rael'Zorah's body from the shuttle and met Tali at the airlock. They passed through decontamination and entered the Rayya where they were met by its Captain, without the trigger happy Marines. He had a medical team with a gurney to convey Rael to the morgue. After Shepard set the body down, he and Tali continued their walk through the familiar corridor to the garden plaza. The admiralty board and crowd were already assembled as if nothing happened, and that made Shepard more pissed off then he already was.

"Sorry we're late," Tali said once they reached their podium.

"Is the admiralty board prepared to render judgment on this issue?" Raan asked.

"We've been ready for quite some time," Koris said.

Shepard was in no mood to play games with admirals, but had to clear Tali's name. "Tali'Zorah vas Normandy saved the _Alarei_, I hope this finally proved her loyalty to the Quarian people."

"Her loyalty was never in doubt, only her judgment," Admiral Koris said, "and its ironic that you say Tali'Zorah _saved_ the _Alarei_, and yet she was complicit in the plan to fly it into the sun."

"Captain Shepard's actions regarding the Alarei saved this fleet from certain destruction, Admiral Koris," Raan said. "If you wish to file a grievance with Shepard vas Normandy then you will do it at another time, this trial is about Tali'Zorah. Now perhaps Tali'Zorah can offer something to encourage more trust in her judgment."

Admiral Han'Gerrel spoke up, "did you find anything on the Alarei that could clarify what happened?"

Shepard looked over at Tali who stared back at him, he couldn't get a reading beyond that veiled expression, and didn't know if she was willing to destroy her father's legacy to prevent her exile. Regardless of her opinion, which she couldn't utter in public, Shepard stepped forward to address the admirals.

"Shepard, please," Tali called out softly.

"Does Captain Shepard have any new evidence to submit to this hearing?"

Shepard stood there for a moment and wondered what he could possibly say that could prevent Tali's exile and maintain her father's honor. He looked up at the admiralty board, and while he couldn't imagine Raan being a part, the other admirals were like sharks in the water, preying upon whoever they needed to accomplish their goals. It was fairly obvious that Daro'Xen and Han'Gerrel might have been in cahoots with Rael'Zorah and his experiments, and that getting Tali exiled would quietly cover up what they were doing. No, he wouldn't allow Tali to be a pawn in their game anymore, nor would he destroy her father's legacy which was one of the few things Tali had left.

"Tali helped me defeat Saren and the Geth at the Citadel, that should be all the evidence you need," he said to them.

The admirals, Koris in particular, weren't convinced, "I fail to see what relevance-"

"You're not really interested in Tali, are you? This trial is about the Geth," Shepard said to them.

"This hearing has nothing to do with the Geth!" Koris fired back.

"You want people to sympathize with them," he pointed an accusing finger at Koris, "and Han'Gerrel would like nothing more then to go to war with the Geth. None of you care about Tali! She knows more about the Geth then any other Quarian alive, you should be listening to her not putting her on trial like this!"

Tali only watched as Shepard put everything he had into defending her, completely and totally awestruck by Shepard's speech.

"Tali'Zorah saved the Citadel. She saved the _Alarei_. She showed the galaxy the value of the Quarian people, I can't think of stronger evidence than that."

There were murmurs all across the courtroom as Shepard's words sunk in with the populace. Tali just stood there, and for the first time cracked a smile despite the recent trauma of her father's death.

"Are the admirals prepared to render judgment?" Raan asked.

One by one the admirals entered their ya or nay vote confidentially into their omni tools, and Shepard could only watch, hoping that what he said was enough. Raan looked at her omni tool and got the results of the vote.

"Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, in light of your service to the Quarian people, we do not find sufficient evidence to convict. You are cleared of all charges."

Tali felt like crying tears of joy at the news, and to have Shepard put together a passionate defense for her like that off the top of his head... it was too much for the Quarian girl and a single tear slipped though and down her face.

"Captain Shepard, you have the personal thanks of this board and the undying gratitude of the fleet for your actions aboard the _Alarei_ and in saving us from the destruction of Raheel-Leyya," Raan said.

"Thank you, Admiral. And if you truly hold me in such high regard you'll all listen to what I have to say now," Shepard activated his omni tool and uploaded EDI's data to the admirals. "That is data that my crew has gathered that conclusively proves that we are no longer in our own universe."

"Thank you, Commander, we'll take this data under advisement," Koris said.

"Under advisement! What did you understand? We are no longer in our own universe, this may look like our galaxy, but I'm sure you've noticed the changes in the stars around us. I know this seems like an impossibility, but its the truth. We were pulled through the black hole that Raheel collapsed into and were somehow pulled here. As far as we can tell, galactic civilization as we know it may not exist in this alternate galaxy."

"Our scientists have also postulated this theory of alternate universes," Daro'Xen said, "however we have found no evidence that travel between these theoretical universes is even possible."

"Not possible! Look outside, Admiral, we just traveled through a black hole that was altered by the energy of a god damned supernova!" Shepard yelled at the ignorant admirals. "This is not an illusion and its no longer theoretical, we are lost in an alternate universe and we have no way back."

"I believe what Captain Shepard is saying," Raan said.

"As do I," Han'Gerrel decreed.

"As Admiral Xen has made her position clear, I stand with her," Admiral Koris said.

"It seems we are at an impasse then," Raan said, "as a result, the full Conclave will have to be convened to weigh in on Shepard's evidence."

"Admirals, in the mean time I implore you to remain here for the time being where it is safe. Someone might try and send help through the anomaly," Shepard said. "I intend to take the _Normandy_ to try and find any sign of the mass relays for one, and to also see if there might be a friendly race nearby that can help us."

"If you have no idea of what's in this alternate universe then is it wise to take only one ship?" Han'Gerrel asked.

"The _Normandy_ is optimized for stealth, I guarantee you she won't be detected unless we want someone to. _Or if they have access to reaper technology,"_ Shepard added as a fleeting thought.

"Very well, since we must call the Conclave to deliberate on Shepard's evidence, we will wait here for the _Normandy_ to return and report on what awaits us," Raan said. "Go in peace, Shepard vas _Normandy_, keelah se'lai."

"Keelah se'lai," the Quarians in the room echoed.

The Quarians filed out of the plaza, and once they were out of earshot Tali talked to Shepard.

"I can't believe you pulled that off. What you said... I've never had anyone speak like that on my behalf. Thank you for being there for my father and me, even when... thank you."

"Tali, about what your father said, what he did... you deserved better," he said.

"I got better, Shepard. I got you." It wasn't a total admission of her feelings for him, but it was close. Tali was still held back by that fear of rejection, a fear she knew was justified. She was a Quarian, and he a human, the fact she spent her whole life in an isolation suit meant they could never have something special.

"Captain Shepard," Raan interrupted, "I'm sorry for intruding, but Admiral Gerrel wished to speak with you briefly."

"Very well," and Shepard walked over to the fat side of the plaza where Gerrel was standing.

"Your Captain is an impressive person," Raan commented.

"He's more than that," Tali said.

"And are you going to tell your Captain how you really feel about him?" Raan asked.

"Raan... but how... I mean I've never told anyone," Tali was shocked to say the least.

"Tali, I have known you ever since you were a little girl, I can tell by the way you look at him that what you have for him goes beyond friendship and beyond loyalty to one's Captain."

"Raan, I want to tell him, but I'm a Quarian. Relationships with other species are too difficult, besides what would he want with an average Quarian girl?"

"You of all people should know you're not average to him, Tali. Look at all the things he said about you during the trial, he may yet be receptive to your feelings."

Raan's peptalk helped, but telling Shepard how she felt didn't seem right, at least not now. They had too much to worry about now that they were stranded in this alternate universe. Across the room, Han'Gerrel met with Commander Shepard to discuss a proposal.

"The _Normandy's_ an advanced ship, but heading off into the unknown is suicide," he said.

"That may be true, Admiral, but you send ships away from the fleet for long stretches of time," Shepard countered.

"Our galaxy was a known quantity, this one isn't. I'm not saying you shouldn't go, but it would be prudent to take an escort."

"What did you have in mind?"

"I command a personal phalanx of 40 military ships, we can give you an escort to wherever you're going and simply wait out of range while you conduct your reconnaissance. If things 'go south' as you humans say, we can give you the support needed to get out safely."

"Won't that compromise the security of the fleet?" Shepard asked, unwilling to put the safety of millions above that of his crew.

"While we might not have a sufficient number of warships to the number of civilian ships, most of our civilian craft in fact carry defensive armaments and their captains trained in combat. My fleet won't be missed; besides were in deep space between star systems, I doubt anyone will be looking for us."

"Alright then, welcome aboard, Admiral."

Shepard put out his hand, and while Gerrel initially was unfamiliar with the human custom, he caught on and returned the handshake.

**XXX**

The _Normandy_ broke away from the fleet an hour later, being followed by 40 Quarian warships of various classes and origins in what was being called The Expedition Fleet by the Quarians.

"Course laid in, Commander," Joker said.

"Let's see what's out here," Shepard said, "punch it."

The 41 ships of the fleet, lead by the Normandy jumped to FTL speeds to their destination, a solar system just two lightyears away.

Epsilon Eridani.

* * *

Ah, another chapter done in less than a day. I will have to warn you all that I'm on break from college right now and when that changes in two weeks I can't promise updates this fast. And now I will answer a couple of reviews.

Nala- I will include some of what you wrote in a final summery, but for now I'm sticking to this style. Its always nice to try something new.

Raizen Lord of Twilight- I really wanted to respond to your review, but unfortunately you have your PM function turned off, and I don't want to take up a page on this story responding to it

Oh and in case any of you were curious about my Shepard: Male/Paragon/Spacer/War Hero/Soldier


	3. Winter Contingency

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 3: Winter Contingency **

**Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- UNSC high command **

The HIGHCOM bunker on reach monitored all traffic coming in an out of the star system, whether it be military or civilian. Epsilon Eridani was the busiest system outside of Sol, and as a result controllers had to be vigilant to make sure all the travel lanes were cleared. It was early in the morning, and aside from a single cruiser on an out of system trajectory to enter slipspace there wasn't much going on. Half a dozen men manned the situation room, trading rumors of a big UNSC Navy/Army exercise going on across the Viery territory. Suddenly, a priority signal flashed across their screen from an RSO, Fermion to be exact, which was in the outer system.

"_SCR_," the codeword for the HIGHCOM situation room, "_this is Fermion RSO. Unconfirmed report of an in-system slipspace rupture."_

The officer of the watch scrolled through the recent data, and it didn't indicate any unauthorized slipspace entries into the system. Nor did the schedule call for any ships coming in until 0900 hours.

"Impossible, check your source."

"_Reading multiple pings below the main detection grid... they're hacking our COMs!"_

The transmission ended abruptly, and the technicians watched as the feeds from Fermion ended and the station winked off their map of installations scattered throughout the system.

"Sound general quarters and get the command staff up here, now!" The officer of the watch cried. One of the technicians slammed his fist on a red button that called a General alert across the base. Officers and enlisted alike scrambled out of their bunks and to their duty stations. Within minutes, the situation room was fully staffed with officers of the major military branches on Reach. The senior most officer, Army General Andrew Scott arrived within fifteen minutes.

"Alright listen up!" He called out, and the technicians stopped their work for a moment. "Make no mistake, this is the Winter Contingency, and this is Reach. This may be the absolute last stand we make, but we are gonna do things by the book and make sure as many people as possible can be saved. What you know is that a Covenant fleet is heading here from the outer system. What you don't know is that the Covenant have already landed secretly across Viery and we're mounting large scale offensives as we speak. So this room needs to be configured to coordinate space and ground tactical movements as well as coordinate civilian evac. You trained for this, and we all knew one day this was going to happen, so do your duties right up until the end, that is all."

The Reach military reservation covered almost half of the southern part of Viery, and happened to be where Reach HIGHCOM was located; it wouldn't take long for the Covenant to launch an attack. General Scott set up his workstation at the large holotable in the back of the room. He put his earpiece in

"COMs, what's the status of fleet assets?" The General asked.

"Admiral Freemont is coordinating with Admiral Stanforth in orbit, we have about 100 ships in orbit now. Freemont is sending a message to all nearby ships for reinforcements, he's also asking for extra security around the ODP generators."

"Redirect our reserve Marine platoons to the ODP generator complex," Scott ordered.

"There's something else, sir, Admiral Whitcomb is here to see you."

"Whitcomb?" Scott was wondering what the deputy chief of naval operations himself was doing on Reach in the first place. It wasn't unheard of for him or Lord Hood to visit Reach, but there was normally some prior announcement; the general didn't know that Whitcomb was on Reach at all. Never the less he was here, and walking through the doors carrying a briefcase and escorted by a small entourage.

"General Scott, I understand we're facing a Covenant attack. Now would you mind telling me how the hell the Covenant managed to bypass ten other colonies and strike at us here!" Despite the disparity of the situation, Whitcomb was sharp in his need for answers as to how something this catastrophic could happen.

"We don't know for certain how they managed to get our coordinates, but its obvious they've had them for some time," Scott said, and he prepared to make a massive breach in protocol to the Admiral. One month ago we fought off some kind of recon force that seemed only interested in an ONI instillation. Reach HIGHCOM knew it was a matter of time before they planned to attack us here and they were in the process of launching a counter offensive operation when this happened; I imagine Freemont has ordered those assets back.

"Where exactly do we stand?" Whitcomb asked.

Scott let out a sigh and called up the latest tactical data on the holotable. An image of Reach appeared, highlight both the orbital and ground situation in Viery.

"We've got just over a hundred ships in orbit and another fifty inbound from positions across the system," Scott said. "Its bad on the ground, the reservation is almost completely surrounded by hostile forces. Army Recon detected them planet side last night and we've got multiple divisions supported by a pair of Navy frigates giving them hell; only wish we'd told you swabbies that this might be coming sooner, you might be a little more prepared upstairs.

"Don't count us out just yet, General." Whitcomb put his briefcase on the table and opened it. Inside was a datapad that he then activated and handed to General Scott. Schematics and information crossed the screen, and Scott was completely awestruck.

"A teraton yield? My god, if this thing detonates too close to the planet."

"This is something I've helped supervise to create, and was designed with situation in mind. I've contacted ONI and requested a prowler shove this thing down their scaly throats, this weapon may be the only way we can survive this mess. We just have to hope Freemont can keep the Covenant off our backs to get this thing loaded and ready."

"What do you need from us, Admiral?"

"Keep the Covenant off our backs until we can get this thing airborne," Whitcomb instructed as he put the datapad back in it his briefcase. "I'm heading over to the R&D complex now to supervise the transfer."

"I'll make sure you have an escort to guard that place. Contact Charlie Company if things get hot, they might have a few men to spare in protecting the generators."

With a final nod, Whitcomb left for his Warthog outside and Scott was forced to deal with the desperate situation on his own. Normally there would be two other flag officers here with them, a Navy Admiral and Marine General, unfortunately they hadn't been able to contact either one and that left him the sole officer in charge or Reach's ground defense.

"General, I have Colonel Holland for you," the COM officer said.

"Patch him through," there was a click in his earpiece as it switched to an encrypted Army frequency, "Urban, I need some good news here."

"_I can't give it to you, sir,"_ the Colonel replied, "_Noble Team barely got out of the plains alive, there's a Covenant supercarrier that was hidden by some sort of cloaking field those advance corvettes set up in advance. Their main force is heading south west towards the RMR, which will put them at your doorstep in a couple of hours."_

"What about that supercarrier? Do you know where its heading?" A ship as large as a supercarrier could easily decimate their ground and fleet forces from behind their own lines.

"_Its offloading additional troops and supplies, once its done it'll probably head up into orbit. The ODPs and the fleet are on the opposite side of the planet..."_

"But the shipyards and servicing docks along with every major civilian orbital instillation on on the other side. Good god, it'll be a slaughter."

"_Noble-one's got an fairly interesting idea to take out that carrier without diverting major fleet assets, however I'm gonna need a favor or two to pull it off."_

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- orbital dock beta-9

The orbital spaceport was in total chaos, people scrambled into cargo ships, personal yachts and passenger liners by the hundreds. The security forces and few Marines stationed there were forced to use aggressive riot control tactics to keep everyone in line, and unfortunately a dozen civilians had been killed in accidental crossfires. Up in the control tower, The chief of orbital operations David Young was forced to suspend all departures until the arrival of a military control officer to ensure the Cole Protocol was followed to the letter. Looking outside the window of the control tower, which overlooked the entire crescent shaped station he could see a UNSC frigate approaching.

"Operations Chief Young, you are being contacted by Commander Al-Sayir of the _Billings, _shall I route the call?" the station's dumb AI said.

"Yes yes, just do it," David was already in a panic over the fact the Covenant were at reach of all places.

"_Who am I speaking to?"_ the gruff voice of the Navy Commander asked.

"Um... this is gamma shift operations chief David Young, sir."

"_Activate your emergency planetary directive: Winter Contingency and follow the specified instructions, Billings out."_

The COM signal ended abruptly and David immediately ordered the computer to search for and execute the selected file. All of the screens of the operation center went dark and displayed the UNSC logo. The screen in front of David displayed the specific instructions he and the rest of the spaceport personnel were instructed to follow,narrated by the station's AI.

**This facility is now under martial law and subject to military jurisdiction.**

**A Covenant presence in this system has forced the necessary evacuation of civilian non combatants out of the combat zone.**

**All ships will follow the Cole Protocol and generate a randomized slipspace vector out system**

**A UNSC naval asset will be on station to shoot down any ship that deviates from the protocol.**

"Wait, what!" David couldn't believe what he just heard, they wanted to shoot down civilians!

"AI, get me a line to that ship," he commanded, but it continued its play through of the military file.

**UNSC military assets will assist in riot control if necessary. However station personnel are instructed to implement aggressive procedures immediately to ensure civilian cooperation with evacuation to assigned escape ships.**

"Oh god, this is not happening."

**While the assistance of station air traffic controllers would expedite matters, your input is not necessary for departure procedures. To ensure maximum compliance of the Cole Protocol, the station AI will direct all departures.**

David looked around and saw that the rest of the staff had deserted the control room. On the security monitors he could see the panic that was gripping all the people in the station terminals. Civilians trampled through the halls to departure gate, security and military police using brutal tactics to keep them moving in an orderly manner. A similar message to the one David got was playing over the loudspeakers, but was drowned out over the panicked screams. He looked out the window and saw a small pleasure craft break hardseal and depart the station; it then left on a presumed slipspace entry vector. The UNSC frigate wasn't pleased, and contacted the ship.

"_Civilian craft, wait until we transmit randomized coordinates in accordance with the Cole Protocol."_

"_Hell no, I'm not gonna sit in open space with a wiped nav database hoping one of your courier ships shows up with a new one. I'm heading to Earth now!"_

"_I repeat, wait until all ships are prepped for departure and have their nav databases secured. This is your final warning."_

The civilian craft didn't reply, and the frigate took this as a sign of non compliance, one of its autocannons turned and fired on the ship, crippling its engines. David could hear a few screams over the COM before it was washed out by static. Pelicans left the frigate and headed to the downed civilian ship, but the damage had been done. The captains of all the other ships docked knew what the punishment for stepping out of line would be, and none of them attempted anything. David simply sat in his chair, awestruck at what he was seeing.

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- New Alexandria spaceport

Sergeant Major Duvall and his platoon spread out on the park opposite the spaceport, the Marine pelicans setting down with more of his troops and the all important surface to air heavy missile batteries. The fight across the Viery territory was not going well, the Covenant had broke out of their landing zone on the Ütközet Plains west of the city and were advancing toward the coast where New Alexandria was located. His platoon was ordered to set up defensive missile batteries to cover the evacuation of civilians from the city. Above the, Duvall watched multiple Pelicans and Falcons fly formation overhead into the city.

In one of the Falcons sat the remains of a secret UNSC Army team of Spartans, codenamed Noble. They had just returned from dropping off two of their number at the ONI Sabre launch and testing facility at Farkas Lake to partake in an operation to take out the Covenant supercarrier sighted at Ütközet. Colonel Holland then redirected them to new Alexandria to cover the evacuation of ONI HQ at the Olympic Tower. They had little less than an hour before the Covenant reached the outskirts of he city, and intel said they were accompanied by three corvettes probably dropped off by the supercarrier.

"Heard anything from Jorge and Six?" Carter asked Kat, his second in command.

"Nothing, Commander, but they should have reached Anchor 9 by now, assuming the Covenant haven't blasted it to bits," she replied in her Slavic accent. "I could run a patch into FLEETCOM and find out any news."

"No, they'll probably be running dark or on encrypted COM. If the Covenant found Reach then there's no telling if they can compromise our COMs." Carter wanted to know the status of his people, but had to adhere to operational standards. Right now Noble had a mission to accomplish themselves, and that would hopefully keep his mind occupied, but even he had to wonder if it was worth it trying to defend reach against a fleet as large as 300 ships. They had already penetrated their defenses with a supercarrier and gotten troops on Reach itself, and no doubt those 300 ships would blow through their defenses and glass the planet like so many others before them. Reach was their last stronghold, they had to make sure it didn't fall, or die trying.

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- Ütközet Plains

"I need the medevac, now!"

Army First Lieutenant Mathew Bourne was not prepared for the level of carnage that his unit encountered on the battlefield. The covenant were moving on, but most of his company and platoon were slaughtered by a mechanized Covenant break out, supported by their supercarrier. Off in the distance a quartet of scarabs marched across the plains heading toward the coast and New Alexandria; the burning remains of the frigates _Grafton_ and _Saratoga_ lay on the battlefield. Bourne and seven other troopers were all that was left of the platoon he commanded, and quite possibly his entire company. Right now, the Lieutenant tended to a wounded Lance Corporal who was hit by shrapnel from an exploding Warthog; their medic was dead and Bourne treated her as best as he could.

"Sir," one of the other surviving troopers came over to him, "no joy on finding a working Warthog, Covies were thorough in smashing our armor."

"Where's the damned medevac?" He ashed his subordinate.

"Some Pelicans were touching down 10 klicks from here, el-tee."

"Shit! We can't carry her that far, I doubt she can be moved," Bourne was trying to ignore the growing red stain on the sand underneath her. He knew there might be another wound on her back, but was afraid to move her.

"_El-tee, contact approaching, friendly Pelican,"_ the sole surviving sniper of his platoon said from his over watch on a nearby cliff head. Sure enough a Pelican could be seen flying low over the terrain.

Lieutenant Bourne quickly pulled an emergency flare and lit it, tossing it on the ground as it billowed blue smoke. The Pelican saw the smoke and vectored toward their position, touching down just a few minutes later. The red crosses pained on the sides was a welcome sight for Bourne, a medical Pelican. A navy corpsman came out from the back carrying a medical kit.

"How long has she been unconscious?" He asked.

"About three hours, ever since the explosion. She took some shrapnel hits, I think there's another wound on her back but I was afraid to move her," Bourne explained.

"Ok, you did good," the corpsman said as he grabbed his radio, "I need the stretcher, and prep the blood synthesizer stat."

Another man left the Pelican carrying a collapsible stretcher and set it up next to the wounded Corporal.

"Ok, on three. One, two..."

The two corpsman lifted her up and onto the stretcher, coming away with blood covered hands from grabbing her back. Bourne could clearly see the massive blood stain in the sand that was beneath her. He followed the two corpsmen as they brought her back to their Pelican and looked inside the back; there were nearly a dozen wounded people crammed inside, some unconscious, some sporting horrific injuries. They set the Corporal down on the deckplate which was the only free space left in the back of the Pelican.

"Listen, the main evac point is 10 klicks away, you can bet Covenant reinforcements are coming so get your men there asap," the corpsman called out.

"Understood," Bourne replied.

He watched as the pelican's hatched closed and the craft took off, the Covenant weren't picky with their targets and those red crosses pained on the sides wouldn't keep them safe.

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- Gamma Station

"_...this is not a drill, all hands evacuate the station."_

"Lets move, people." The station Commander, Captain Jones was supervising the evacuation. Their plan in accordance with the Cole Protocol was to wipe the nav database of all ships docked, evacuate the station and then decompress it to deny the Covenant access to UNSC tech.

"Johnson, what's are status?"

Sergeant Major Avery Johnson commanded one of the Marine fireteams assigned to the stations security detail, right now he just came back from the escape deck on the lower level.

"Escape pods below us are clear, I think we're the last ones," Johnson said.

"Good, I'm almost done here so you and your team will hitch a ride in my pod," Jones said.

"_Alert!"_ The station's AI, Doppler, had activated the intercom. "_Unsecured NAV database detect on UNSC Circumference. Attempts to remote access for Cole Protocol compliance unsuccessful. Initiating Code Black procedures."_

"The hell's going on?" Johnson asked.

"The AI can't wipe the database on this _Circumference_, Code Black sends a secured distress call to HIGHCOM and also locks down this station to protect it from the Covenant," Jones explained. "Which means the decompression cycle is going to speed up."

"What about the nav data? The fleet's got it's hands full taking care of those alien bastards' ships." Johnson pointed out.

"We'll just have to hope HIGHCOM can send a team up here to manually wipe the data," Jones said.

"You're looking at it," Johnson said.

"Whoa, I don't think so, it'll take you half an hour to get to the other side of the station. You'll never make to before the decompression hits."

"We'll take out the pressure suits from the upper level storage locker," Johnson ran off down the hall, "don't wait for us!"

"Shit," Jones swore as he climbed into his escape pod and shut the hatch. Johnson ran back down the hall and to the three members of his fireteam.

"Jenkins, Bisenti, O'Brien," Johnson called to his men, we've got five minutes to get upstairs and into suits.

"We bailing out of here in suits?" Jenkins asked.

"Not exactly. We've got an unsecured nav database in a hangar on the other side of the station and we're the only people in a position to take care of it."

Johnson had served with these three for many years, and knew that they were up for just about anything.

"You just tell us where you need us, sarge," Bisenti said. Jenkins and O'Brien echoed his statement.

"Alright, lets suit up, we hit vacuum in ten minutes."

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- UNSC _Trafalgar_

"Admiral Freemont, the fleet's in position, we still have 53 ships inbound to the rally point, the" operations officer reported.

"We can't wait for them, get me Stanforth on COM."

An image of the Admiral from the bridge of the UNSC _Leviathan_ appeared on the main screen.

"I hope this plan of yours works, Michael," Freemont said to his counterpart.

"_It'll buy us the time we need to fire again, coupled with the nukes we might have a very good chance of destroying enough of the Covenant fleet to even the odds."_

"Even so, its a long shot at best," Freemont pointed out.

"Admirals, the Covenant are approaching estimated firing range," the _Trafalgar_ tactical officer called out..

"Michael, get those stations into position, its showtime."

Part of their main battle plan was taken from Admiral Stanford's tactics at the battle of Sigma Octanus IV, to use repair and refit stations as sacrificial shields to block the first wave of Covenant plasma. Hopefully they could get off a couple of salvos from their MAC guns, coupled with the nuclear minefield that ONI prowlers were laying they might have a chance to reduce the Covenant to manageable numbers.

"They're firing."

Multiple lances of plasma left the 300+ fleet of Covenant ships, intent on destroying the fleet and the 20 ODPs protecting Reach. The three refit stations left the fleet, two vectored to defend the more valuable ODPs while the remaining one shielded the fleet. The cloud of debris from the three stations helped to diffuse the remaining plasma torpedoes. While this was happening, the fleet and orbital guns managed to get off two salvos with their guns. The Covenant fleet took major damage, and many of their ships had lost shields. Admiral Freemont then gave the order to detonate the minefield and the Covenant fleet was enveloped by four small suns. Once the blast had cleared, a full hundred ships had been destroyed, a third of their fleet.

Cheers rung out on the bridge as the damage assessments came in from the attack, however their reprieve was brief. One vessel stood out among the Covenant fleet, mainly because of the heavy energy buildup coming from it.

"Identify that ship, now, what's it doing?" Freemont ordered.

"AI can't identify, energy levels increasing," tactical reported to him.

"Its some kind of weapon, tell the fleet to go to erratic..."

Admiral Freemont never got the chance to finish that order as the Covenant supercruiser fired its energy projector at the fleet, the _Trafalgar_ was severed amidships and secondary explosions destroyed the bridge. Four other UNSC ships were destroyed by the same energy beam, but the loss of the flagship and command structure was a crippling blow. Admiral Stanforth quickly assumed command and ordered the fleet to scatter and counter attack, however they wouldn't be saved from a salvo of plasma torpedoes. Within minutes, multiple UNSC ships and four of the ODPs had been destroyed, however the Covenant began a retreat away from reach now that nearly half their number had been destroyed. What they didn't notice was the swarm of reinforcements launched from the ships heading for Reach.

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- military reservation access road 17

It had taken them nearly an hour of driving through the forests of the Reach Military Reservation to reach the nondescript research station designed as one of many auxiliary armories that were across the reservation. Admiral Whitcomb had been in touch with ONI on deploying the Nova prototype as soon as a Prowler became available. Whitcomb was riding in the first of three Warthogs, he had a laptop on his dashboard connected to the UNSC COM Net; suddenly he got a flash message directed to him.

"This is Whitcomb."

"Admiral, its General Scott."

Back at the HIGHCOM bunker, the staff all watched the main monitor and listened to the security feed.

_There are thousands of them. Grunts, Jackals, and their Elite commanders. We've sighted multiple Banshees and Wraiths... christ they've breached the perimeter! Fall back! If anyone can hear this, the Covenant have breached the perimeter and are massing near the armory._

General Scott looked up at the Covenant corvette, one of many that had arrived to reinforced the Covenant position on Reach. They had apparently isolated Reach HIGHCOM's position and made it their top priority.

"Sir... the Covenant are massing to knock HIGHCOM out, we're initiating contingency protocols and each operational command is being transferred to secured facilities. I need a senior officer to assume command and you're the last one left planet side that I know of."

Whitcomb was a Navy man, directing ground battles was not his style or expertise in the slightest. Regardless of his misgivings, he knew his duty and he had to assume command or let Reach fall, besides the ultimate plan was to use the Nova Bomb in some way.

"You've got it, General," Whitcomb replied.

Scott watched the main screen as the plasma lines gathered along the corvette, his heart beating in his chest. There were muffled cries from a few of the technicians as they realized what was about to come.

"Admiral... give them hell."

Static flooded Whitcomb's receiver after that, which he shut off. The command protocols had been transferred to his computer shortly before HIGHCOM was destroyed. Minutes later they arrived at the research complex and Whitcomb was ushered inside. The Admiral was briefed by his staff on the status of the fleet in orbit and the invading Covenant now reinforced across the Viery territory; the situation was slowly becoming hopeless.

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system- _Normandy_

It had only been a couple of hours into their reconnaissance of the nearby Epsilon Eridani system when all hell seemed to break loose. Upon arriving they left Admiral Gerrel and the expedition fleet in the Oort cloud and utilizing the Normandy's stealth, they began to recon the system. There were multiple signals coming from at least two major colonies in system, and EDI determined that they were using radio frequencies not to dissimilar from their own, which indicated the presence of a human civilization. They proceeded deeper into the system, and stumbled into what appeared to be a massive conflict.

Ships of unknown design were shooting at each other, one faction clearly alien and who's smooth and flowing designs resembled some Asari ships. The more blocky and conventional designed ships EDI deduced were the human civilization in this universe. The fleet of 300 alien ships had sustained major losses by the human forces using extremely high powered mass accelerators. According to EDI's projections, the orbital mass accelerators could reach half the speed of light, more then enough force to gut the_ Destiny Ascension._ The battle was being displayed on the CIC holoboard where most of the bridge staff and Shepard's team were gathered to watch it unfold.

"This is more massive then the first contact war," Miranda remarked.

"Indeed. Fleets this large have not been assembled since the Krogan Rebellions. Implications disturbing for status of civilizations in this galaxy," Grunt wasn't happy with Mordin's reference, but that was the least of their problems. Shepard figured that with fleets this size engaged in combat, that humanity was in a massive war and might not be able to help them. And considering this fact, there might not be anything closely related to the Citadel Council to stop this war.

"What are our options?" Shepard asked from his position overlooking the galaxy map.

"I hate to say it, Shepard, but this may be a lost cause," Miranda admitted, "if humanity is at war then they probably won't be able to help us."

"Have to agree, system appears to be major colony, should try different system. Earth perhaps," Mordin suggested.

"I think we need to look at the big picture," Jacob said, "these people are being attacked. We have ships, I say we help them."

"Only 40, Jacob," Miranda said, "the alien fleet is still nearly 200 ships in number. Not to mention their weapons system; EDI, tell them what you found."

EDI's avatar appeared on the CIC console, and overhead a recording of one of the alien ships firing appeared.

"Based on visual and what long range scans I am capable of, I have confirmed that these ships fire a type of plasma weapon. Based on what theoretical applications there are in our universe for such weapons, they most likely are using a type of magnetic wave projections to guide and direct the plasma; this means our kinetic barriers are useless due to their being no solid mass to repel."

"We still have our Silaris armor, its rated to withstand GARDIAN lasers," Jacob countered.

"Also the fact this alien species has shields, possibly powerful enough to repel our mass accelerators," Mordin said.

"I've analyzed footage and reading of the battle, and discovered that the human shipboard mass accelerators are comparable in strength to our own. The orbital ones I've estimated at between fifty and sixty percent the speed of light, this is more powerful then the largest mass accelerator ever produced and mounted on the _Destiny Ascension_."

EDI's report was both chilling, and presented an opportunity to Shepard. To think that humanity had developed mass acceleration technology more powerful then the Asari was intriguing, they might have other weapons powerful enough to go toe to toe with a Reaper. If they could get back to their own universe, they might have the technology needed to save their galaxy from the Reapers. First though, there needed to be an alternate human civilization to help them.

"I say we help them," Shepard said.

The room suddenly went quiet as everyone looked up at the Commander.

"Shepard, we are outnumbered by aliens who's weapons are energy based, how can we hope to go up against them?" Miranda asked.

"We've got disruptor torpedoes, our mass accelerators and not to mention the Thanix Cannon," Shepard said.

"Armaments exclusive to _Normandy_. Quarians only possess mass accelerators, GARDIANs, and rudimentary disruptor torpedoes." Mordin stated. "Thanix Cannon extremely powerful weapon, never been tested."

"Then we'll test it now, Shepard said, "look I know this is a completely unknown situation we're walking into, we have no idea who started this war and for all we know we might be helping the aggressor. But from what EDI is telling me this system is a colony of millions, and what these aliens might do to them is probably no different then what the collectors might have done with the missing colonists. Right now we're in a pretty desperate situation and we're gonna need allies, an act of good faith might get this human civilization to trust us."

"We'd be dragging the Quarians into this war, are you sure they'll even go along with this?" Miranda asked.

"Lets hope so, because the _Normandy_ can't fight a war on her own," Shepard said. "If you're on board, then I suggest we'd better contact these humans. EDI, locate the closest ship."

"There are currently 56 human vessels heading for the planet to join their other forces, the closest one appears to be a cruiser analogue just clearing the asteroid belt. I am relaying the coordinates to the helm."

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system- UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_

The refitted Halcyon class cruiser had just cleared the asteroid belt where they had taken down a Covenant carrier chasing them. They bore witness to the initial carnage over Reach, and picked up the frantic distress calls from HIGHCOM on the surface. Captain Keyes knew that there were contingencies in place to prevent the unified command structure from breaking down completely, but the situation was still desperate. The Covenant had at least 190 ships still intact, half of which smashed what was left of the fleet; the fifty ships on the way including the _Autumn_ wouldn't add much to the twenty left in orbit. They then suddenly turn and left Reach on a vector that would take them out of the system.

"Sir," Lieutenant Hall the Autumn's operations officer cried, "the Covenant fleet has altered their outbound trajectory, they're turning. Looks like they're coming around for another attack."

"Good, looks like we're not too late after all." Keyes said that as calmly as possible to hide his complete nervousness of the situation.

"Sir, ETA to rally point Zulu is five minutes," Ensign Lovell at helm reported.

Keyes began issuing orders to prepare the _Autumn's_ considerable armament ready for battle. After that was done he removed his grandfather's pipe and lit it, taking a puff as he studied the latest tactical readouts on the screen in front of him. The real problem the UNSC forces faced were the loss of the ground side generators powering their ODPs, the only real weapon that had any chance at stopping the Covenant.

"This is bad," he muttered to himself.

On the holotank next to the screen, the Autumn's temporary AI, Cortana appeared. Originally assigned for Operation: Red Flag, she had become a critical asset to the ship in lieu of the Autumn's regular AI.

"Captain Keyes, I'm picking up a high level distress call from a Reach spacedock AI. And if you think the fleet is bad, wait till you hear this. It gets worse." Before she could answer, she appeared to pause as the coding on her body fluctuated. "Captain, a unidentified ship just appeared 300 kilometers aft, closing fast."

"Covenant?"

"Unknown," Cortana replied, "there was no slipspace rupture, it just appeared out of nowhere as if it deactivated some kind of stealth. Its closing on us, 30 seconds to intercept."

Keyes wasn't taking any chances, "arm point defense guns and standby on the Archer pods."

"Its coming alongside now, visual contact," Cortana put up a feed from an external camera on the main screen. Keyes was expecting a bloated purple Covenant ship, but was surprised to see a sleek, white hull, but the most interesting was the name stamped on the hull, _Normandy_.

"I can't identify the ship in the database, nor is it transmitting any IFF," Cortana stated. "Wait, I'm getting a COM signal... they're hailing us."

Keyes nodded to the AI and a channel was opened, "This is Captain Keyes of the UNSC _Pillar of Autumn._ You've entered a combat zone and will identify yourselves immediately."

They received an immediate reply.

"_This is Commander John Shepard of the Normandy, we're here to render assistance."_

* * *

Well sorry this one took over a week to publish, it was a little difficult to write for reasons I'm about to explain. In case you didn't notice, I have attempted to reconcile the differences in canon between Halo Reach and _The Fall of Reach, _both portray two different accounts of the battle; one and epic struggle and the other an pearl harbor style strike. I have done this because the book canon is the one I want to work with for this story, but I don't want to leave Halo Reach completely out.

So here's my hybrid canon as I see it: the first two levels of Halo Reach happened when they say they did, and I will elaborate on why I'm keeping them in later chapters. The bulk of the game I'm saying happened over a period from August 29th to the 31st. So if you were planning on it, I'm going to ask my reviewers to not complain about these changes because the way I have this story planned (spoiler alert) most of Halo Reach's story won't actually happen.

Anyway, if you can't tell, next chapter's gonna be a big one in terms of the story, and to all those interested I will try to preserve Mass Effect tech canon as best I can, but I will have to at least bend it in some places.


	4. Hope and Fear

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 4: Hope and Fear**

**Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system- UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_ **

Jacob Keyes listened with total skepticism to the brief reply they received from this _Normandy_. He made a cut gesture to Cortana who muted the bridge mic.

"Do we have any kind of information on that ship?" He asked.

"Records indicate there was a corvette named _Normandy_ in service 20 years ago, but was destroyed in combat," Cortana reported. "I can't identify the design of this one, but it might be some type of ONI prototype."

"Its more likely this is some kind rebel ship, or an elaborate ruse. The Covenant have had 27 years to study our language and who knows how many POWs." Keyes pondered what to do for a second. "Cortana, restore the channel."

Cortana paused for a moment before nodding to the Captain.

"You'll forgive me, Commander, but your vessel is completely unknown to our database. If you're ONI I'm going to need an authorization code, and if you're with an insurrectionist organization I'll need an explanation as to why you're here." Cortana had already taken the liberty of prepping the autocannon turrets in the event Keyes' third prediction panned out.

"_I'm sorry, Captain, we're not affiliated with this ONI or these insurrectionists_," Shepard said, "_our origins are a little difficult to explain, but we are here to help you."_

"I'm sorry, but I'm still skeptical here," Keyes replied, "in five minutes we're going to meet up with the rest of my fleet; 70 to one are bad odds."

"_Look, you guys are in a tight spot right now, I'd explain who we are but I don't have the time to prove it to you. At the very least I can prove I'm not one of those aliens you're fighting."_

"We're receiving a second transmission, a video file." Cortana piped the image onto the main screen and Keyes was somewhat relieved to see a human face on the display. The man looked like he was in his late twenties or early thirties, with a shaved head and slight 5 o'clock shadow. He wore a gray and white t-shirt with some type of symbol on the sleeves. Behind him was a hatch, but next to it was some basic writing: Deck 2: CIC: Combat Information Center. "

"Cortana, is this being fabricated at all?"

"They're using one of our own carrier frequencies, I've analyzed the video stream and its too complex to be a fake, I'd pick up any forgeries almost instantly." The AI had checked three times to be sure, but it was genuine.

"This goes someway to gaining my trust, Commander. Lets say you are genuine about helping us, one ship isn't going to make a difference," Keyes said.

"_This ship has some fairly advanced technology in it, not to mention I have a fleet of 40 ships waiting at the edge of this system. I can give them the coordinates and have them here within minutes."_

Keyes studied the tactical readouts located next to Shepard's image once more. With the addition of the 50 stragglers, the UNSC fleet now numbered nearly 70 ships, another forty would bring them close to matching the Covenant numbers. It might give them the edge necessary to beat them back.

"Put me through to Admiral Stanforth on the _Leviathan_," Keyes ordered, "Shepard, stand by; I'm putting you in contact with the Admiral in charge of the fleet currently."

"I'm sorry sir, but the _Leviathan_..."

Cortana pipped in the image of the marathon class cruiser, one whole side was a burning wound spilling atmosphere into space. The running lights continually flickered and the ship had a noticeable list thanks to damaged emergency thrusters.

"The Covenant energy beam clipped it, communications are cut off, Captain," Cortana reported, "at this point I can't tell you who's in charge of the fleet. Ships are forming individual battlegroups to attack the Covenant; but its only a matter of time before all command breaks down entirely."

"Commander, at this point I really can't be picky with my allies, you had better be goddamned sincere with your promise of help, otherwise you'll have the blood of a lot of innocent people on your hands." Keyes may have been desperate at this point, but he wasn't taking any chances.

"_You have my word, Captain. What's your battleplan?"_

"I have a contingent of Spartans on board, and two high priority missions that need them deployed. We also have some type of Covenant ship that's got a new weapon, its blowing our fleet to pieces. If you guys can take it out, we'll cover our orbital platforms."

"_We're gonna need to create a data linkup," _Shepard said, "_I have an artificial intelligence onboard who can process the tactical data."_

"I have an AI on board as well, I'll have her transfer tactical data to you now. Shepard, the Covenant are going to be within firing range in fifteen minutes, you've got that long to get your fleet in position."

**XXX**

"Great, we've teamed up with a ship full of spear carrying, shirtless men," Joker quipped after listening to the COM feed.

"Spartan must be some kind of codeword, possibly for a weapon," Miranda said from her position behind Joker. It had only been a few minutes since Shepard cut the COM link with the _Pillar of Autumn_ and headed up to his quarters. Miranda went back into the CIC just in time to see Shepard emerge with his N7 armor on.

"EDI had a chance to brief me on the data Captain Keyes set us, they're going to send these Spartans to the surface of the planet to protect the generators powering those orbital guns. I'm having the team mobilize in the hangar now, Tali and Garrus are staying aboard, I'd also like you to stay and command _Normandy_."

Miranda lowered her voice, "Shepard, I'm not exactly trained for ship to ship combat here."

"I think you can pull it off, Miranda," Shepard said, "besides I'm not that much more experienced then you. Lieutenant Presley commanded the first _Normandy_ during the battle at the Citadel, along with Joker. You'll be ok."

"Lets hope so," Miranda said as she went back up into the cockpit. Shepard stood over the galaxy map one more time for a quick call to the Quarian fleet. An image of Admiral Gerrel appeared in place of the galaxy image.

"Admiral, I'm going to need that backup now."

"_What's Normandy's situation, Shepard?"_

"We weren't able to find a mass relay, but we made contact with a human colony. Problem is they're under attack and I've offered to help."

Shepard may not have been able to see the Admiral's face, but his shifting body posture told him he wasn't happy with his news.

"_Shepard, you've put me in a difficult position, how much do you know about these people?"_

"Only that this colony has a couple of inhabited planets with populations numbering in the hundreds of millions, all who are gonna be at the mercy of these aliens. These humans seem pretty advanced, and they've got an understanding of mass accelerators considering they have big ones with more power then anything in the citadel fleet."

"_Giving us powerful weapons in exchange for helping them in a military conflict doesn't seem like a smart deal. What about our problem with being stuck in this universe, do you really believe they can help us with that?"_

"I can't tell you that, but all I know is that we are better off with the humans then these other aliens," Shepard had to hope he could convince him.

"_This isn't exactly the best idea I've ever heard... but I'm willing to try and help these people."_

"Thank you, Admiral. My XO Miranda Lawson will be in command of the _Normandy_ and you'll coordinate with her on a battle plan. I'm leading a team to the surface to protect the generators powering the orbital guns, just keep the alien fleet away from the planet."

"_I will coordinate with your Miranda Lawson on protecting the planet, good luck Shepard."_

The Admiral's image disappeared and Shepard turned to Miranda, nodding before he left for the elevator. Miranda took Shepard's position over the galaxy map and took a deep breath, steeling herself for the battle to come. _Normandy_ still hadn't been battle tested, even in their encounter with the collector ship some time ago they fled rather than fought.

"EDI, let me know the moment Shepard's shuttle has launched," Miranda said, "and tell Garrus he has five minutes to get the magnetic flow rates of that gun of his under control."

"Understood, Ms Lawson," EDI replied, I've been attempting to analyze the Covenant weapons based on our scans and what tactical data the _Pillar of Autumn_ has sent us. I do not believe the kinetic barriers of the Quarian fleet can protect against the plasma weaponry these aliens use, however we may not need the barriers."

"How so?"

"The plasma travels at speeds slower then the _Normandy_ and most ships in our universe for that matter. This indicates that the races of this universe may not even use Mass Effect technology."

"The aliens had shields though, we saw that," Miranda pointed out.

"They're still susceptible to mass accelerators, and the _Normandy_ alone can match the firepower of the smaller UNSC vessels with our accelerator. Our disruptor torpedoes and javelin weapon system might be able to heavily damage them as well."

"We can only hope, EDI," Miranda said, "arm our weapon systems."

**XXX**

"Cortana, patch me through the Spartan's armory." Keyes had just send down the relevant info on the situation groundside and the Cole Protocol violation on gamma station.

"Spartans, I believe the Covenant may try a pinpoint slipspace jump to gamma station. They may try and get their troops aboard the station before the MAC guns can take out their ships. I'm open to suggestions, Master Chief."

The leader of the Spartans stepped forward, allowing Keyes to distinguish him from from the rest of the MJOLNIR clad Spartans.

"Sir, we can take care of it," The Chief replied.

"How exactly, Master Chief?" Keyes asked.

"I'll split my squad. Three will board the space dock and make sure that the NAV data doesn't fall into the Covenant's hands. The remainder of the Spartans will go ground side and defend the orbital generators."

Keyes thought for a moment before coming to a decision. "Its risky, but I'm willing to given your mission a go. The _Autumn_ will stay close to the station and cover you from any potential Covenant attack."

"Understood, sir."

"Chief, there's one more thing that you should tell your ground team. We've made contact with some... allies of sorts who are willing to help. They're going to bring a fleet here to help and send a force to the surface, their leader's name is Shepard."

"I'll inform the ground team leader, Captain," the Chief said.

"Very good. I'm plotting a course to the docking station. Be prepared to deploy both teams in five minutes."

Keyes' image winked off the screen in the armory as the Master Chief turned to the assembled Spartans; Kelly then walked forward to The Chief.

"Sir, permission to lead the space op."

"Denied, I'm leading that one," The Chief replied. He then decided who to pick to join him on the mission. "James, Linda, get your gear in order and meet me in the Pelican in five minutes. Fred, you're in command of everyone else as Red Team. The ground mission is yours."

"Yes, sir," Fred said, "red team, gear up!"

The Spartans snapped into action and began getting their equipment and weapons from the various crates they had brought aboard for Operation: Red Flag. The Master Chief walked over to Fred and opened a private COM line to him.

"The Captain didn't give me much information on these allies he contacted, they could be rebels for all we know," he told Fred. "When you make contact with this Shepard, keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

"Understood, sir."

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- Covenant corvette _Ardent Prayer_

"_Six, go for those shield controls. I need in."_

Spartan-B312, designated Noble Six had just finished securing the tiny hangar bay of the Covenant corvette for the second phase of their plan. With all warships on the other side of the planet, Noble Team had come up with a daring plan to use a slipspace drive as a makeshift weapon against the assault carrier threatening the spacedocks. Noble Six and the surviving Sabre pilots fought their way to the hangar bay and had just secured it, at the cost of half their number. The Spartan got to the upper level and hit the control that would alter the shield matrix to allow vessels to pass through. A moment later a Pelican passed through with a slipspace drive slapped on the back, landing and unloading a fresh wave of troops, along with Jorge-052

"Powder keg is aboard, Colonel," Jorge said over the COM.

_"Copy that. Six, get your fireteam to the bridge; the Corvette's re-fueling run with the assault carrier will have to be initiated manually." _Holland replied.

Noble Six was just getting more ammo from the troopers who had arrived when another signal came in over COM.

"Savannah _actual to Holland, reading some type of distortion 3000 kilometers out. Unknown vessels detected."_

"_Dot, identify them."_

"_Repositioning NAV beacon RA-15, visual contact established."_

The AI routed the image from the beacon to the HUDs of the two Spartans; a fleet of completely unknown ships appeared out of nowhere. They weren't Covenant, they lacked the smooth architecture of their ships. These were angular and boxy, almost like something humans would make; some also possessed a spinning wheel on the aft part of the hull.

"_The hull markings are in a language I cannot identify,"_ Auntie Dot said over the COM. "_Shall I attempt communication?"_

"_Negative, they could simply be a different type of Covenant vessels in which case talking to them will do nothing,"_ Colonel Holland said, "_we have to proceed with Operation: Upper Cut."_

Suddenly, all of the ships opened fire on the assault carrier with what appeared to be MAC guns. The shields of the mighty Covenant warship withstood only three of the high speed projectiles before giving in to the other 37; the ship was totally obliterated by multiple impacts pulverizing their way through the hull.

"Definitely not Covenant," Jorge remarked.

"You can say that again," Six echoed.

"_Noble Team, evac immediately, I'll have the Savannah take out the corvette_," Holland ordered.

"_This would be advisable, one of the alien vessels is angling toward your corvette_," Dot informed them.

The remaining Sabre pilots and the troopers had boarded and fired up the Pelican, six and Jorge were the last to go.

"_Savannah actual to Spartans, they're painting the corvette! You've got to get out of there."_

At that moment, Covenant reinforcements entered the hangar bay to retake it from the UNSC forces. Weapons fire rained down on their position from the upper levels as the two Spartans tried to return fire.

"Pilot, go now!" Jorge said into the COM.

The Pelican was taking fire as it lifted off and flew out the other hatch, leaving Six and Jorge behind.

"Hope you've got a plan here," Six said.

"I think so, on three, run for the hatch behind us, and make sure you kick off the hull."

"Ready."

"Three!"

Jorge tossed a couple frag grenades over their cover to distract the Covenant as he and Six ran for the force field; they passed through and kicked off the hull into space. Six looked behind him in time to see a slug from the alien ship pass through the corvette and tear it inside out; luckily none of the debris hit them.

"Jorge, I hope you realize I'm the only one with a reentry pack," Six said.

"I didn't think that far ahead, Six. Listen, Reach has been good to me, I don't mind going out this way. They're gonna need you down there."

He'd only known Jorge a month now, but Six felt like he was about to loose an old friend.

"_Savannah actual to Spartans, don't go saying your prayers just yet."_

The frigate came up from underneath them at a slow enough speed that the Spartans were able to land on her hull without injuring themselves. They engaged their magnetic boots and managed to stand up, locating the closest airlock. Overhead they saw the alien ship rejoin its fleet as they arced over the frigate and headed for the other side of the planet at extremely high speeds.

"Who the hell are these people?" Jorge asked to himself.

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- _Normandy_

The elevator stopped on deck 4 to pick up Grunt, Jack and Zaeed. The hatch opened and the three of them were standing there, plus Tali.

"Shepard, can I talk to you?" She asked.

He nodded, "go, I'll meet you down there," he said to the rest and they traded places.

"I heard you're going down to the human planet," she said, "I want to come with you."

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, Tali, but you'll be needed here," Shepard said, "you're the only one who can keep the Mass Effect core running under combat."

"I understand, just be careful down there, Shepard," Tali said to him.

"No problem, make sure there's still a ship for me to come back to."

The elevator had come back up by then and Shepard got into it, taking it down to the hangar. The shuttle was on the hangar floor along with the hammerhead tank directly behind it. Jacob was using his biotics to lift up a crate and put it in the shuttle; also carrying several duffel bags inside.

"Everyone else is loaded inside Commander," he said after he came back out.

"I assume Zaeed is inside the tank?" Shepard asked.

"Hopped in the moment he got down. You sure you wanna go down in the tank?"

"I'm sure Jacob, see you on the ground."

**XXX**

Two Pelicans left the _Pillar of Autumn_ as the ship passed over the planet; the _Normandy_ dipped out of formation and skimmed the atmosphere. From the shuttle bay came the _Normandy's_ regular shuttle along with the Hammerhead tank. The shuttle took the lead with the Hammerhead following closely behind; the prototype tank was hard to control during the descent phase but Shepard kept a firm grip on the controls. Zaeed had the worst of it; the gunnery chair wasn't well secured and the mercenary was rattling around in his seat.

"Goddamn it, Shepard, can't you spare some power to the Mass Effect fields?"

"They're already at maximum to ease our descent, just hold on," Shepard yelled back.

Zaeed swore as they continued their descent, and eventually the turbulence ceased. The VI highlighted a flightpath and automatically adjusted the tank's course using the overpowered Mass Effect fields that provided its thrust. Shepard was able to glide the tank to a somewhat soft landing in a small clearing a short distance from their destination. Shepard waited in the clearing until he received a signal from the shuttle, which they did.

"_Shepard, its Jacob, we made it through the atmosphere, but we lost sensor contact with that shuttle from the Pillar of Autumn."_

"Hopefully they made it too," Shepard said, "have you completed your aerial survey?"

"_Just about, you're roughly 2 klicks from some kind of larger clearing that runs all the way to the location of these generators."_

"Copy that, meet you there."

The tank set out through the woods until it reached a road that most likely lead to the generator complex; it had been heavily traveled recently. It took roughly five minutes of driving to reach the clearing, and they discovered it was no natural clearing. Burnt wood scattered around broken and fallen trees indicated this was once a forested area, but had been completely destroyed by high explosives. As they got deeper into the area, they found wrecked vehicles, most were alien but Shepard could recognize the broken ones of human design. Then there were the bodies, some human, others completely alien. Up ahead, Shepard could see four humans picking through some of the remains in front of the entrance to the complex. They raised their weapons at the sight of the Hammerhead, completely unfamiliar with its design. Once they were close enough, Shepard stopped the tank and popped the hatch, coming out to alleviate the Marines' fears.

"Is this some kind of ONI prototype?" The lead one asked.

"Something like that I guess," Shepard replied, "I'm Commander Shepard, where's your CO?"

"Dead sir, I'm Corporal Williams, and we're all that's left of Charlie Company."

It was hard to believe that four Marines had managed to survive this mess, but it didn't look like these were the so called Spartans that Keyes had said were on the way, assuming they were even alive. From behind them, the shuttle came in low over the battlefield and soared over the hammerhead and the Marines, landing somewhere in the back of the complex of bunkers surrounding the generator complex.

"Corporal, lets head inside and regroup."

Shepard and the Marines went inside the bunker perimeter and the heavy titanium doors closed behind them. Shepard parked the Hammerhead and he and Zaeed got out, together they walked around to the other side of the complex where the shuttle had parked and Jacob was already in the process of unloading the ordinance. The four Marines froze when they saw Grunt, Mordin and Legion come out of the shuttle.

"What the hell are those things?" Corporal Williams asked.

"They're with me," Shepard said, "you can trust them."

"Hell, they don't look like any Covenant I've ever seen, but that big one looks like he could give a hunter a run for its money."

"Hunter? Sounds challenging," Grunt said with glee, surprising the Marines.

"Alright, this I have to see happen," Williams said.

"_Shepard, this is Samara_," the Asari Justicar's voice came in over the COM. "_Thane has taken up a position on the upper level of the structure, he's sighted movement in the treeline. Several large armored figures moving toward the clearing."_

"Copy, get to the main entrance and take up a defensive position, we'll be right there."

The rest of the team dropped what they were doing and followed Shepard and the Marines to the main entrance. They all climbed the stairs to the upper tier of the bunker wall to look out over the battlefield, and to take defensive positions.

"I'm getting a COM transmission," Corporal Williams said.

"Everyone switch to the frequency EDI gave us," Shepard said over his COM as he activated his omni tool and changed over to what EDI identified as a universal UNSC military frequency.

"_To any Marines in the bunker complex, this is Spartan Red Team. We are approaching your position from your eleven o'clock."_

"Spartans? If you are what you say you are, we could sure use a hand," Williams replied.

"_Sorry we missed the battle, Marine_," the same Spartan replied.

"Missed? Hell, Spartan, this was just round one."

"_How many in your company?"_

"There's only four of us left, but we just got some, err... reinforcements. Their CO is some Commander named Shepard, he's on this frequency."

"_Shepard? You're the one Captain Keyes told us to look out for."_

"That would be me," Shepard said, "I've got ten people with me along with a tank and some heavy ordinance."

"_Its better than nothing_," the Spartan replied, "_I hope you have med supplies, we have some... wounded."_

Shepard heard the Marines mutter about the possibility of wounded Spartans, apparently it unsettled them. Shepard remembered the sight of many shell shocked Marines on Elysium during the blitz by the Batarians, and the signs were all too apparent in these four survivors.

"Spartan, we're opening the main gates now and I'll have the med supplies ready," Shepard said.

From the treeline came around 20 or so figures in green armor, several had noticeable limps, while four were being carried by other Spartans; only around half of them were armed. Corporal Williams opened the doors once the Spartans got close enough, and they were quickly ushered inside. The four Spartans being carrier were set on the ground as Kasumi ran up to them carrying the bag with the medical supplies. Shepard, Jacob and Samara jumped down from their positions to assist, however Samara's presence enticed a reaction from the Spartans.

"What the hell is that?" One of the Spartans, a female asked as she pointed a pistol at her.

"She's a member of my team, and not the only non human mind you," Shepard said.

There was a thud as Grunt landed behind Shepard, his custom shotgun handy.

"Kelly, these people don't look Covenant in the slightest," the lead Spartan said to the one holding the gun on Samara.

"We are not affiliated the aliens attacking you," Samara said, "however you should know that no one who has pull a weapon on a Justicar ever used it."

"Is that a threat, blue skin?" Kelly asked.

Samara's hand lit up as she harnessed dark energy in perpetration for a biotic move. Shepard finally stepped in between the two, lest Grunt start getting agitated at the sight of possible conflict.

"Look, we're all on the same side, my people are here to help," Shepard said, "the last thing you want to do is turn us down."

Kelly, stand down, the leader ordered her, which she followed. Samara relaxed and the dark energy around her hand evaporated. Kasumi proceeded to kneel down by the fallen Spartans and began unpacking the medical supplies.

"Don't bother," Kelly said to her, "they're dead."

"Holy shit," one of the Marines muttered. Obviously the concept of a dead Spartan wasn't something they were comfortable with, something that added to the number of questions Shepard had about these Spartans.

"I'm sorry for Kelly's behavior, Commander," the lead Spartan said to Shepard. "I'm Chief Petty Officer Frederick-104, Commander of Spartan red team."

"Nice to meet you, wish it was under better circumstances," Shepard said.

"Likewise," Fred replied.

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- Covenant supercruiser _Righteous Blade _

Ship Master Fal'Tukamee had the honor of commanding the first prototype supercruiser vessel in combat against the humans. The ship had been designed as a weapon capable of wiping out human ships from afar, well outside the known range of their mass driver weapons. The supercruiser's principal armament was the oversized energy projector that gave greater range and accuracy then the standard ones fitted on Covenant capital ships. Extra plasma reactors fitted on the ship gave the projector its power and allowed the supercruiser to keep its shield operable during discharge. The drawback was minimal defensive weapons and no fighters.

"Ship Master, the human fleet is consolidating its reinforcements in preparation for a counter attack."

"That will give us an opportunity to cripple their forces, prepare the energy projector for use," Tukamee ordered.

"My lord, the visual sensors have detected an approaching ship."

An image of the ship appeared on one of the screens on the bridge, he could make out some human writing on its sleek hull; it was unlike any human vessel he had seen before.

"And you found it on the visual sensors?" Tukamee asked. The visual sensors were regarded as a secondary scanning system, using a combination of external cameras and a computer the system searched the space surrounding the ship for vessels. Given the enormity of space around them, it wasn't always a reliable system and the primary sensor array was more effective.

"Yes, I attempted to locate it with our main sensors but the craft does not register," the sensor operator said.

"A stealth vessel," Tukamee mused. He knew the humans possessed such vessels, and on occasion a Covenant vessel was able to detect and dispatch such vessels. "Prepare plasma torpedoes for firing, destroy that ship."

**XXX**

"No one better be looking out of a window right now," Joker said to himself as he brought the _Normandy_ closer to the supercruiser. Their attack run remind Joker of their visit to the heretic Geth mainframe recently, thankfully the Geth didn't use windows and they were able to sneak right up to the station under the cover of the ship's stealth systems. The UNSC weren't able to detect the _Normandy_ under stealth so they had to hope the Covenant couldn't either; they were getting fairly close and if the Covenant had detected them by now they would have fired. Miranda stood behind Joker, waiting for the moment to strike.

"Garrus, what's the status on the Thanix cannon?" She asked.

Down in the gunnery control, Garrus was attempting to properly calibrate the delicate but powerful magnetic fields that shaped the molten metals into armor piercing slugs that could be accelerated to speeds just faster then the _Normandy's_ principal mass accelerator.

"Come on, align already," Garrus frustrations were answered with yet another error tone. Just terrific, Garrus punched in the COM line to the cockpit. "Lawson, I'm having trouble getting the Thanix online, you're gonna have to do without it."

Miranda swore under her breath, but a setback like this was to be expected. The Thanix system was reversed engineered for Turian ships, and they thought they'd have more time before they needed to face the collectors; the Thanix simply wasn't a high priority until now.

"We'll have to use our other weapons, tactical, prepare the javelin system."

Slung in between the engine pods were racks of specially designed disruptor torpedoes, Javelin worked by firing these torpedoes two at a time on converging trajectories that when detonated, the converging Mass Effect fields would amplify the damage a single disruptor torpedo could cause. A regular torpedo was designed to break down barriers and was rarely effective against the hull, the converging fields of the Javelin system would tear a ship apart.

"Jeff, I have detected activity from the ship, they are firing a plasma mass," EDI warned.

Joker checked the nav scanner and discovered the plasma was heading in their direction. "Brace for evasive."

The Normandy's engines flared and the ship banked and turned parallel to the supercruiser, the torpedo tracking but unable to catch up to the faster _Normandy_.

"They may be able to transfer power to their guidance systems and increase the speed of the plasma, we may not have much time," EDI said.

"Joker, get us on the other side of the ship and make sure you steer clear of their bow," the last thing Miranda wanted was to put the ship in the sights of their energy weapon. The _Normandy_ raced around the aft side of the ship and accelerated away from its port flank. Joker then pulled a 180 and brought the Normandy into a dive to the supercruiser's port side.

"Tactical, fire!"

Miranda's order traveled through the COM to one of the stations aft of the cockpit where the crewman in the tactical chair was manipulating the holographic controls. On the hull, two racks of torpedoes were primed and a salvo of ten were fired. What looked like blue wisps of energy leaped from the Normandy's wings, heading straight for the Covenant ship. Not surprisingly to the _Normandy_ crew, the Covenant ship had its own version of a GARDIAN array which fired at the incoming projectiles. However, never facing a weapon such as this, the pulse lasers of the Covenant ship only downed half the targets. Six made it through and detonated, the unstable dark energy fields expanded and interacted with one another, waves of energy bombarded the Covenant shields, straining the emitters. The shields eventually failed, and the leftover energy struck the hull and tore up hexagonal pieces of armor plating and causing a couple of breaches, but the ship was intact.

"Their shields have collapsed," EDI said.

"Tactical, mass accelerator," Miranda ordered.

The _Normandy's_ mass accelerator could fire a salvo of three shots before the heat sinks needed to be vented. Three slugs left the _Normandy_ traveling at nearly 30% light speed, two impacted the front of the ship while the last one hit the engine section. The third slug damaged many of the power transfer conduits between the main reactor and had caused a cascading feedback into the reactor itself. The aft section was soon consumed by the explosion, followed by the forward half of the ship.

"The collectors have more spunk than these guys," Joker said.

"This was only one ship, and had minimal defensive armaments, Mr Moreau," EDI pointed out. "It is likely a regular Covenant vessel will have armaments surpassing that of the vessel we just faced. However, it seems our timely destruction of the ship has caused the remaining Covenant vessels to halt their advance."

"They were probably counting on that ship to thin out the UNSC fleet some more, Miranda said. The supercruiser had only wiped out half a dozen ships in the time it took _Normandy_ to intercept and destroy it; 65 UNSC ships including the _Pillar of Autumn_ and a valuable carrier, the _Musashi, _were saved.

"I'm picking up more friendly signals coming over the pole of the planet Reach now," EDI said, "I believe the cavalry has arrived."

**XXX**

"Pelican one is on target to dock with gamma station," Lieutenant Hall reported, "I've lost contact with Pelican two, likely Covenant jamming; they've got a lot of fighters in the atmosphere."

"Ensign Lovell, keep us in an escort pattern behind Pelican one," Keyes ordered, "keep your heads on a swivel, people."

"Captain, slipspace rupture behind us," Cortana warned. The viewscreen displayed the aft camera as a Covenant frigate exited a slipspace rupture.

Keyes snapped into action, "Lovell, turn this ship around and give me max power to the engines. Lieutenant Hikowa, prepare to fire the MAC gun and arm Archer pods B1 through B7."

The _Autumn_ came about and faced the Covenant ship just as two more emerged from slipspace. The first one had been sighted by an ODP and quickly dispatched, the other two were still recovering their power reserves from making a short jump through slipspace.

"Target the port vessel with the MAC gun, Lieutenant Hikowa. Ready Archer missiles for the starboard target."

Lieutenant Hikowa quickly entered the commands into the firing computer, "ready, sir."

"Fire."

The _Autumn_ fired her MAC gun and missiles just as the frigates had cycled up enough power to discharge a torpedo each. Two raced from the Covenant ships away from the _Autumn_, but straight for the orbital guns. The three slugs from the Autumn struck and destroyed the first frigate, while the second was taken out by four slugs from a different source before the Archer missiles could hit it; the useless missiles passed through the debris field. Unfortunately the torpedoes had reached two of the ODPs and destroyed them, leaving only 13 guns operational now.

"Cortana, where did those MAC slugs come from?"

"Tracing source... got it, a fleet of ships are coming up over reach's northern pole now," the AI reported. "I'm also getting a message from the _Normandy_, the supercruiser has been taken out, and the incoming ships are Shepard's promised reinforcements. They're including a COM frequency to their flagship."

"Open it." Keyes waited a moment before a voice came through the speakers.

"_This is Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema of the Quarian cruiser Neema, commanding this task force,"_ a strangely accented voice said, surprisingly in prefect English.

"This is Captain Jacob Keyes, commanding the UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_. You're allies of Commander Shepard?"

"_Correct Captain, I need to speak to the Admiral of your fleet_," Gerrel said.

I'm afraid there were only two admirals in our fleet, they're both dead as far as I know. You'll have to deal with me, Keyes replied.

_I see, well do you have the authority to command your remaining vessels?_

"I can try, Admiral, but we're in a desperate situation here," Keyes explained, "at this point I'm not sure I can convince them to organize." Keyes took a step back in his mind, and realized now wasn't the time to be raising such doubts. Combined, they had over 100 ships to defend Reach, the Covenant supercruiser had been destroyed, and they still had over a dozen orbital MACs. The last thing he should be doing is confessing to the person offering reinforcements that it was a hopeless cause.

"Admiral, I'm going to try to contact my fleet and rally them near our orbital defense platforms, you can bring your fleet there."

"_Very well, I suggest you make haste as your ships will likely have construed us as possibly hostile."_

The channel was closed and Cortana automatically opened a channel on the fleetcom frequency.

"This is Captain Keyes on the _Pillar of Autumn_, by now you'll have noticed the fleet approaching us from over Reach's pole. I was contacted by their commander and he is offering us their assistance, so I'm recommending our fleet RV with theirs near the ODPs. Hopefully, we can consolidate our forces and deliver a blow to the Covenant before they're in position to wipe us out." Keyes had to hope the individual captains would listen to him.

"I'm receiving conformation from all ships, they're heading for the rendezvous," Cortana said, "however we have an immediate problem. Scanners are picking up breaching pods and smaller contacts vectoring toward gamma station."

"Boarders, probably slipped away from those frigates," Keyes said, "Lovell, bring us along side them on a strafing run, one pass. Cortana, take control of the 50 mm guns and whatever Archer pods you need. We'll only have time to do this once."

The _Autumn_ fired her forward thrusters to slow the ship and cut her main ones for the attack run. Her inertia carried her the rest of the way, and once they were close enough Cortana turned the guns on the Covenant boarders and fired. Two pods of Archer missiles were targeted for the boarding craft while Cortana used the point defense guns on the individual elites on thruster packs. By the time the Autumn had completed its attack run, the invasion force had been slaughtered.

"Master Chief, we've cleared you of any potential hostiles, get that nav database," Keyes said over the COM as they passed by gamma station.

"_Understood, sir,"_ the Spartan replied.

"Helm, keep us on course for the RV point," Keyes ordered.

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- orbital defense generator complex

"Medi-gel will treat liver damage, and help stabilize lung," Mordin explained to his latest patient, Kelly-087. "Surgery will be needed within 48 hours to replace lung organ. Should be able to remain on feet until then."

"Thanks, doc," Kelly said as she snapped her chest plate back onto her MJOLNIR armor. "Why do you talk so fast?"

"Salarian physiology, what you would term hyperactive metabolism. To us, humans and other species appear slow. Especially Elcor."

"Thanks again, doc," Kelly said as she stood up and left as Mordin tended to his next patient, Will-043. Kelly was still curious as to why the alien, Mordin had said 'other species'. This Commander Shepard and the other humans in his group seemed perfectly comfortable around their alien counterparts, but what had Mordin meant by other species; were there other alien races out there besides the Covenant? Kelly passed by several Spartans receiving brief training on some of the weapons Shepard brought with him by one of his men, Jacob Taylor. Over half the Spartans had lost their weapons and equipment because their Pelican had been shot down and they were forced to jump without chutes, leading to the death of 4 Spartans, leaving only 16. Kelly found Fred in one of the southern bunkers tending to some armor repair using components he salvaged from one of their casualties.

"You good?" Fred asked her.

"Yeah, their Doctor used some of their miracle gel, patched me up for a few hours," Kelly replied, "the guy reminds me of a salamander."

"The big one looks like a frog," Fred gestured to Grunt who was perched on a bunker, keeping a lookout for Covenant reinforcements. Fred picked up a case and tossed it to Kelly. "Its Charlie Company's radio, get it operational so we can link to the COM net and let the _Pillar of Autumn_ know we made it."

"Got it," Kelly left just as Shepard walked in to talk to Fred.

"Chief, we need to discuss a battleplan," Shepard said.

"I think we need to discuss some other things first," Fred gestured to a crate across from him and Shepard sat down. "I'm sure you've noticed my people's reaction to your alien friends, and frankly I'm a little concerned myself. Just who are you and where did you get the aliens?"

"If I told you where we're really from, there's no guarantee you'd believe me," Shepard said. He took a breath before continuing. "The aliens as well as the humans with me are part of a team I put together to combat an enemy where we're from."

"And just where is that exactly? Are you some rebel from a long lost colony?"

"Not exactly, we're from what is known as a parallel universe," Shepard said, unable to read the Spartan's face to know whether he believed him or not.

"I'm familiar with the concept, but that's all it is, a theoretical concept," Fred said, "how do I know you're telling the truth?"

"You don't, and I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to prove it. The only thing you need to believe is that I'm here to help, and so is my team. In fact I've got a fleet of alien ships helping your fleet in orbit."

"Look, I'm not ONI, and I don't have time to interrogate you. The Covenant are going to hit us soon, and we need to be ready. When this is over there will be time for questions. If I were you, I'd make sure you keep your aliens in line."

"Fair enough," Shepard said, "now about this battleplan."

"Hang on," Fred reached into the bag beside him and pulled out a tacpad, programed it with access to the Spartan's battlenet and tossed it to Shepard. He took the pad, synced it with his omni tool and had all the protocols transferred to it instead.

"Holographic?" Fred asked after witnessing the omni tool in action.

"Yep, most of our tactile interface controls are holographic," Shepard explained.

"Red-twelve, give me a sitrep," Fred said over COM as Shepard listened in.

"_Perimeter established, chief, no contacts so far."_

"Good, mission status?"

"_We recovered ten chain guns and mounted them on some automatic rigs we found but the Marines never got the chance to set up. We've got them set up in blanketing fields of fire around the complex. Three banshee fliers were recovered along with thirty of those jackal shield mounts; along with some Covenant weapons and plasma grenades. "_

"How about ammo for the chain guns? We're gonna need it."

"_Affirmative, sir, enough for an hour of continuous fire. We also found a crate marked HIGHCOM Armory Omega."_

"What's in it?"

"_Six anaconda surface to air missiles, and a pair of Fury tac-nukes."_

Shepard heard Fred give off a whistle at the mention of the last bit of ordinance.

"Secure the nukes asap, we can't use them, the EMP will fry the generators. Red-three, report."

"_Not good here, Red-one. I'm posted on a ridge between our valley and the next. The Covenant have a massive LZ set up. There's a cruiser on station and its unloading troops, and I estimate them at battalion strength. Looks like they're getting ready for round two."_

"Copy that. Updates every ten minutes."

"Those nukes of yours may be the only thing capable of taking them out," Shepard said.

"I know, but the generators underneath us are susceptible to even the smallest EMP discharge, and we need those orbital guns. I might be able to call in an orbital strike." Fred then contacted another member of his team, "Red-two, any progress on that COM uplink?"

"_Negative, sir, I got the radio fixed but the SATCOM is jammed with battle reports and transmissions. The fleet has managed to consolidate and hook up with some reinforcements, and they've secured Reach orbit so we won't have to worry about Covenant ground reinforcements. Looks like the Covenant are going to hit our fleet again and they'll need the orbital guns."_

"Understood, keep me apprised of any..."

"Wait! There's an incoming transmission to Charlie Company from Reach HIGHCOM."

Shepard then listened into an exchange between Fred and a man identifying himself as Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, who demanded a team of Spartans head to his position to extract a high priority package to an auxiliary spaceport ASAP. It took Whitcomb waving his operational authority as acting head of Reach HIGHCOM and thus the planet's defense to get Fred to agree.

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Shepard asked.

"I have my orders, Commander," Fred replied, "I've also got a battleplan in mind."

**XXX**

Across the continent on the coast, New Alexandria was fully under siege. Three Covenant corvettes were hovering over the city providing Major fire support for their forces swarming the high rises and urban sprawls. At the spaceport, Sergeant Major Duvall's position had become a prime target for the brute packs who were in charge of the assault, and in their playbook the objective was to slaughter as many civilians as possible. The spaceport was being invaded by ground troops and one transport had already been shot down by the corvette above them.

"Fox actual to command, request immediate airstrike on Covenant corvette over the spaceport." Duvall said into his COM as another wraith mortal landed close to his makeshift CP. The Covenant had forced them out of the buildings that had the controls for their missile defense, and were slowly pushing his platoon down the beach.

"_Solid copy, fox actual._ _Longswords unavailable at this time."_

"I just watched a civilian transport get blown out of the sky over here! I need that damned airstrike now!"

"_UNSC Savannah to fox actual, cover your heads, airstrike inbound."_

A bright flash streaked across the sky as a MAC round plowed into the Covenant corvette and out the other side. The craft spiraled out of control, crashing into a building before landing in the ocean. A frigate roared overhead, its missiles and autocanons firing at the remaining two corvettes over the city. A Pelican from the frigate descended to Duvall's position and landed, expelling Marines, and to his surprise, a pair of Spartans.

"All evac transports, the _Savannah's_ cleared the airspace. You are cleared for takeoff, repeat you are cleared for takeoff, go now!"

Duvall watched as the transports rose and accelerated away from the city, saving their precious cargo of civilians.

"Spartans, we've got the civilians out of here, but I still got a beach to cleanup. Feel like lending us a hand?" Duvall asked the two.

"No problem, Sergeant," the taller one replied, "just get me a chaingun, will ya?"

**XXX**

"Admiral, I managed to get through to a prowler, looks like they're all trying to leave the system, but this one's on board."

"Good, tell them we'll rendezvous in half an hour."

Admiral Whitcomb had retreated to the small lab complex away from HIGHCOM, and was now attempting to coordinate the battle from the building's security office which had been hastily converted to a makeshift ops center.

"See if you can patch me into SATCOM while you're at it, I'll need to give the fleet a heads up."

"Sir, three people just pulled up in a Warthog," one of the lieutenants actually monitoring the security feed said. "Holy shit, they're Spartans!"

Whitcomb rushed from the office and down the hall to the main door which was guarded by a pair of Marines. They opened it and followed the Admiral as he ran out to greet the Spartans.

"Admiral Whitcomb, I'm Petty Officer Li-008. This is Anton-044 and Grace-093. We were sent to assist in your extraction."

"Good, follow me."

The Admiral led them back inside and into a large garage. In the middle of the floor was a freight elevator that lead to the real complex underground, but coming up was a large object nearly 20 feet in height and was surrounded by smaller casings at its base.

"What exactly is that, sir?" Li asked.

"That, Spartan, is our only hope."

**XXX**

Shepard looked at the other end of the bombed out clearing with his mattock's scope and saw the purple vehicles massing at the other end. It had been nearly 45 minutes since Fred had enacted his battleplan and left with two other Spartans and a Fury nuke on the banshees to eliminate the Covenant force. Fred had also sent three Spartans to comply with Admiral Whitcomb's request for assistance, leaving only ten, plus the four Marines, to guard the complex under Shepard's command. Shepard had been surprised by the move, however Fred had assigned Issac-039 as a liaison to Shepard, which essentially translated to the Spartans' real commander. Fred had originally wanted to send more Spartans to secure a possible fallback point, but decided against it. Instead, Shepard's shuttle would be used as an emergency evac, under the guard of the Charlie Company marines. Shepard had pointed out that not everyone could fit in the shuttle, and Fred countered that if they had to evac, there wouldn't be many left to go.

"Looks like an advance force sent ahead of that battalion," Jacob said from his position next to Shepard.

"We had to know they wouldn't leave us alone for long," Shepard replied. He looked out over the bunker wall; Spartans armed with some of their weapons stood at the ready, small bundles of thermal clips at their feet. Jacob 's cursory instruction had apparently been effective with the Spartans who caught on to the Mass Effect based weapons fast. Standard UNSC assault rifles and a few weapons of the Covenant were also in arms reach. Thane and Legion were on sniper detail with a few of the Spartans too injured to move very quickly, from concealed positions.

"They're letting their armor take the lead," Jacob said, "along with some kind of spiky creatures."

Shepard sighted down his scope at the things standing in between each of the tanks and smaller hover craft. They were at least ten feet tall, and had metal spike jutting out of their bodies along their backs. One arm ended in a metal shield reminiscent of an ancient Earth knight's, while the other ended in a weapon of some kind; the things were essentially walking tanks.

"_They're hunters_," Issac said over the COM, "_those cannons can blow a hole in starship grade hull plating."_

"_So those are hunters... sounds challenging,"_ Grunt mumbled over the COM, the glee in his voice apparent.

Shepard patch his COM into his squad only to give them a last minute pep talk. "The enemy most likely outnumbers us five to one, and the chance of reinforcements for us are slim. As far as we can tell these aliens use plasma weaponry for their troops as well, so don't chance your kinetic barriers; use the shield gauntlets the Spartans gave us." Shepard glanced down at the same device attached to his armor. "You all knew a situation like this would happen when you joined me, and while these aliens may not be the collectors, there are still people at risk."

"_Shepard-Commander, enemy force is advancing_," Legion warned.

Shepard once more sighted down his mattock at the advancing force, and pulled the trigger on his weapon.

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system- _Normandy_

"Garrus, we need that cannon," Miranda said over the COM. She looked closely on the nav display at the Covenant fleet they were fast approaching. They had decided to chance the stealth systems in order to enact the plan they had briefly coordinated with the _Pillar of Autumn_ and the _Neema_. The Covenant had sent a probing force of 40 ships to challenge the UNSC/Quarian lines protecting the ODPs. It was hoped that if they could annihilate the Covenant advance, it might discourage the remaining Covenant fleet from attacking. To do that, the Normandy was going to do a hit and run attack along their flanks, distracting them so the UNSC/Quarian fleet could strike.

"Come on already," Garrus muttered down in gunnery control as he tried to get the magnetic containment fields to align again. Finally, the computer gave a resounding chime indicating the magnetic fields that shaped the Thanix's main projectiles had finally aligned, and the weapon was ready to fire. "Lawson, give them hell."

"Understood. Joker, start the attack run."

The _Normandy_ dived into the Covenant fleet's port flank with a wave of disruptor torpedoes from the javelin system. The fleet was divided into wolf packs of five ships flying in close knit, crescent shaped formations, making the possibility of collateral damage high per wolf pack. The Normandy was thankfully not detected until it was too late and the first three Covenant ships were hit with the torpedoes. The hatches on the ventral fore of the Normandy opened and the main barrels of the Thanix cannon popped out and extended. A blue glow formed at the ends of the barrels as a stream of liquid iron-uranium-tungsten was released and accelerated by the magnetic fields, which shaped the stream into a high speed projectile traveling faster then the _Normandy_'s mass accelerator. The Reaper devised technology was effective against the unshielded Covenant hull as the superheated mixture melted through in the first second of impact. The stream continued through the ship and nearly passed straight through, the molten metal doing extensive internal damage. The _Normandy_ targeted a second Covenant ship with the Thanix and fired, severing its main engines from the rest of the ship. The Normandy flew over the first three ships of the formation, two of which had been hit by the Thanix, and fired two slugs from her mass accelerator into a fourth ship; the ship broke apart just as _Normandy_ passed over it and the shockwave from the explosion caused the two damaged ships to buckle and break up. The last Covenant ship in the formation was crippled by the shockwave of the first ship, and the explosion of the other two caused it to go the way of its companion ships. In less than five minutes, the _Normandy_ had managed to annihilate an entire wolf pack.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Joker cheered and the _Normandy_ arced up toward another formation.

"We're not going to get that lucky again," Miranda said, "tactical, prepare to fire the Thanix. Lets see if we can penetrate their shields."

"Ms Lawson, I believe I have another idea for targeting the wolf pack," EDI said. "After analyzing our engagement with the supercruiser, I've determined there is a communication network between the Covenant ships on a frequency we are capable of transmitting and receiving on. I believe some of our other offensive systems would be of use."

**XXX**

"Holy hell," Lieutenant Dominique watched the external camera feed of the Normandy wiping out a Covenant wolf pack with its unknown and advanced weapons.

"Captain, the Covenant have halted their advance, and they're changing course to intercept the Normandy; all 35 of them," Lieutenant Hall reported.

"That's our window, get me FLEETCOM," Keyes then enacted the brief plan thrown together with Admiral Gerrel. "All ships, this is the _Pillar of Autumn_, accelerate to max speed and remain in formation with our new allies, this is our only shot."

Nearly 110 ships left their close orbit near the ODPs as the platforms positioned to target the Covenant. The Quarians slowed down to keep pace with their UNSC counterparts and to better launch a simultaneous strike.

"Entering MAC range in one minute," Hall reported.

"Captain, the _Normandy_ is launching another attack run, but they're not firing," Cortana said as she brought up another external camera feed. The Normandy passed under the belly of a Covenant formation, but as they passed under the second ship the hangar bays on the starboard side suddenly decompressed, causing the ship to ram into the vessel on its port side. The Normandy cleared that formation a moment later, but another blocked its flightpath and the one they just fled fired their weapons. A single torpedo also raced from the opposing formation, three were now converging on the _Normandy_.

"Did Shepard say something about _Normandy_ having shields?" Keyes asked Cortana.

"Nothing sir, I'm sorry," the AI replied.

Keyes could only watch as the plasma converged on the _Normandy_.

**XXX**

"Jeff, incoming projectiles," EDI said.

"Yeah, I see them!" Joker tried desperately to avoid the torpedoes, and while they accelerated away from the two chasing them from aft, the one fired right at them was too hard to avoid.

"We're not going to make it," Miranda said as she set her omni tool to ship-wide broadcast. "All hands, brace for impact and possible hull breach!"

The torpedo was seconds from impact when Tali, down in the engine room, routed all available power to the kinetic barrier system and shored it up as much as possible. Her task complete, she followed her counterparts Gabby and Ken in gripping her console. The plasma impact amidships, however the specialized multicore shielding couple with the extra power helped deflect most of the plasma away from the hull, straining the system to near overload. However most of the heat and some of the plasma penetrated the barrier and hit the hull; the Asari designed Silaris armor keeping the plasma from breaching the hull but none the less damaging it. Showers of sparks erupted as an unused bridge station exploded from the heat overloading their systems, the internal temperature also rose several degrees as the internal heat sinks worked furiously to purge the heat from the plasma.

"We have hull damage on the top starboard central, but there are no breaches and internal damage is minimal." EDI compiled a full damage report and filed it off to Shepard's terminal or further review.

"Joker, find us a clear patch of space and jump to FTL," Miranda ordered.

"We just got hammered here, I don't know if I can push her that hard this soon," Joker replied.

"They're going to be on us in less than a minute!" Miranda yelled.

"Ok ok, Tali, I need all the power you can give me to the engines and ramp the Mass Effect field generators to full."

Down in the engine room, Ken Daniels tried to get power away from the kinetic barriers as they had just kicked in their fail safe to shut down the CBT configuration and resume a static one.

"Damn it, I can't get the power couplings to respond, they might have been fused by all that heat," frustration was apparent in his Scottish drawl.

"Hang on, this might work," Tali said as she entered commands into the computer and the lights in the engine room went out. Tali rerouted power from deck 3 into the main lines to compensate for the damaged couplings, shunting it into the Mass Effect core. Joker's board went green and he jumped the ship to FTL speed, narrowly missing the two plasma torpedoes on their tail.

**XXX**

"I'll be damned," Keyes said as he saw _Normandy's_ harrowing escape. The Covenant were still distracted and a handful of ships were turning their attention toward the approaching fleet; now was the time to strike.

"Captain Keyes to all ships, open fire."

Any UNSC ship with a functioning MAC opened fire, and a split second later the ODPs followed suit. The Quarians followed up with each ship firing as many as three slugs each from their mass accelerators. Nearly 100 of these slugs slammed into the Covenant fleet, obliterating the 35 ships in a matter of seconds. While they had taken them nearly by surprise, they wouldn't fall for it again as the main Covenant force at over 130 ships still remained and had witnessed their unorthodox tactics. By the time they reached the optimal distance for a MAC solution, they would also be in range of the Covenant weapons. The only thing that kept them from being blown out of the sky was _Normandy_'s distraction.

"Order the ships to prepare to fall back to Reach orbit, we'll make our stand there," Keyes said.

"Captain, I'm getting a transmission from Reach, its on a HIGHCOM frequency," Cortana said.

"Lets hear it."

"_All UNSC ships, this is Admiral Whitcomb. Clear away from the Covenant fleet immediately, code: Bandersnatch imminent! I repeat, code: Bandersnatch imminent!"_

"Ensign Lovell, fire emergency thrusters and come about hard, them redline the reactors. Get us clear."

The _Autumn_ and many other UNSC ships did the same maneuver as they all veered away from the Covenant fleet which had just started to advance toward them. Unseen by both sides was a single UNSC prowler which was pushing its engines as fast as it could under stealth, heading straight for the Covenant fleet. ONI HQ on Reach had given the order for all prowlers to flee the system, however they were contacted by Admiral Whitcomb and ordered to reach orbit where they met a Pelican with a device strapped on its undercarriage. The Admiral then explained his order, to take the prowler straight into the heart of the Covenant fleet and detonate his prototype NOVA Bomb.

The commander of the prowler sat nervously in his chair, sweat pouring down his body, his mid racing at the fact he was going to be dead no matter what happened in the next minute. His crew were in a similar state around him, but they all knew the risks and the potential outcome.

"No matter what happens, we detonate this bomb," the commander said. The crew didn't say anything but he knew their answer. The Covenant fleet grew bigger in the viewscreen as they passed the first few ships and headed deeper into the fleet. However the commander didn't want to chance they'd be detected, and so gave the order to come to a full stop. He picked up the datapad that had been connected to the bomb's detonator and activated it; a single red button was displayed. With a final exhale, the prowler commander pressed the button. The actual process of transmitting the signal and triggering the detonation process in the bomb took less than a second; the prowler crew never realized what happened as they were atomized in a fraction of a second. The fleet watched with their external cameras as a sun was suddenly created in the middle of the Covenant armada, obscuring every ship. The shockwave from the blast shook even the UNSC ships once it reached them, even carrying a minor radiation hazard as it propagated through the fleet.

"Somebody tell me what the hell that was," Keyes said once the shaking of his ship stopped.

"It was a nuclear detonation, but I can't even estimate the yield," Cortana said, "we don't have any weapons capable of _that_."

"Shepard's people?" Keyes asked.

"Possibly," Cortana said. "The blast is subsiding."

"Lets see the Covenant fleet," Keyes said as he looked at the main display as the external camera feed came in. out of nearly 300 ships when the Covenant had invaded the Epsilon Eridani system, only seven were left. Of the seven, only two seemed undamaged from the massive explosion that had completely vaporized over 100 Covenant ships in an instant. Just as Keyes was about to order the ODPs to take them out, all seven ships turned away from reach and generate slipspace ruptures, escaping into the voidspace.

"Holy shit," Ensign Lovell swore, "we fucking beat 'em!"

"You can say that again, ensign," Keyes said, "you can say that again."

**

* * *

**

Date: August 30, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- orbital defense generator complex

The Covenant came at their position with everything they had, their wraith tanks lobbed plasma in front of the bunker and the hunters used their fuel rod cannons to chip away at the bunker wall as they got closer. The snipers spread around the upper levels of the main complex fired away, the Spartans with their UNSC weapons and Thane and Legion with their own Mass Effect based ones.

"_Shepard-Commander, weapons ineffective on enemy tanks and tank-analogue infantry,"_ Legion reported. _"Recommend use of anti tank weaponry."_

"Jacob, Grunt, do it," Shepard ordered.

The two grabbed their ML-77 launchers and fired at the oncoming force, damaging a couple tanks and killing two hunters. The infantry were forced to advance despite gaps in their armor shield, allowing the snipers to target them. Shepard got his first look at some of their regular infantry, the short, squat grunts and the tall warrior elites; there were one or two of the bird like jackals as well. Shepard starting firing his mattock as fast as he could, chipping away at the elite's shields.

"They're charging," Jacob said. He pulled the trigger on his missile launcher for the last time as the weapon's ammo ran out; Grunt ran out of ammo a moment later. The Covenant kept coming and the plasma charges from the wraiths started landing on the bunker complex.

"Issac, can we use those surface to air missiles on those tanks?" Shepard asked as he took cover to change out a heat sink.

"Yeah, but what do we use on the aircraft?" Issac asked back.

"If they were gonna hit us with aircraft, they would have done it already," Shepard said, "we've got to thin out those tanks and we're out of rockets."

"Cover me," Issac replied as he crouched down and accessed the missiles from a tacpad. The Spartans had positioned them and their accompanying launcher on the main landing pad on the roof of the generator complex. The launcher came online and targeted the tanks, the targeting software however wasn't designed to lock onto ground vehicles so Issac was forced to override to manual targeting. A second later, the six missiles flew over Shepard's head and straight into the advancing tank force. One tank managed to survive the carnage and was heading straight for the blast door beneath Shepard's position that lead into the base; two hunters and scores of infantry were hot on its tail.

"Samara, I need the Cain," Shepard said over the COM. Samara was on ground level behind a sandbag barrier near the main hatch. She quickly grabbed the bag containing the high explosive launcher, unzipped it and removed the weapon, then with her biotics levitated the weapon to Shepard's position. He grabbed a hold of it and depressed the trigger, building the charge in the firing capacitor.

"Shepard, that thing's got a nuke symbol on it, is that thing nuclear?" Issac knew that even the slightest EMP could damage the delicate generators underneath them.

"Not exactly," Shepard replied as he stood up and fired. The small projectile just missed the tank and landed towards the back of the infantry. The explosion tossed several elites into the air and simply shredded grunts with impact shrapnel. The wraith tank kicked in its boost and fired one more mortar at the bunker door, ramming it at the moment of impact. The door came down and the wraith tank was met by the hammerhead tank; several quick salvos from the hammerhead destroyed the wraith, its firey remains blockading the open entrance. However the two hunters brunt forced their way through the debris and Zaeed opened fire, catching one. The second was enraged and fired its fuel rod gun at the wall directly next to the tank, causing it to collapse on top of the tank.

"Goddamn alien bastards!" Zaeed swore as the Mass Effect field generator overloaded and the tank crashed to the ground, powerless. The hunter closed for the kill when a thud caused it to spin around. Grunt had jumped down from the upper level and after a quick battle cry, the Krogan rushed the hunter and tackled it before it could bring its shield to bear. As the two wrestled, elites and grunts swarmed over the door remains and entered the bunker compound. Zaeed popped the hatch of the tank and came out shooting at the invading Covenant.

"On our six!" Shepard said as he spin around and began firing into the Covenant below. Mordin, Samara and Jack were positioned only a few yards away from the breach and immediately sprung into action. Mordin tossed a few overload disks at the Covenant and set them off with his omni tool, shorting out the shields of a couple elites. Samara and Jack then let loose a wave of biotic slams, Jack's being the more powerful of the two; elites were knocked down and grunts sent flying into the air. Shepard left his position for the metal staircase that led to ground level and quickly bounded down it. An elite caught him and shot Shepard with his needler, his armor's kinetic barrier easily deflecting the projectiles to the surprise of the elite who was dead a moment later from Legion's sniper rifle. Shepard fired his rifle at the horde of grunts climbing over the tank debris to get inside. Grunt repeatedly smashed his head into the 'head' of the hunter, then grabbed its neck and decapitated it; the trauma to the worm colony killed the creature. Grunt stood up and fired two shots from his shotgun for good measure.

"Shepard, get up here," Issac called down to the spectre who bounded back up the stairs. The Covenant infantry was massing for another charge and with a gaping hole in their bunker wall the fight was going to get close quarters, fast. And to make matters worse, in the sky a pair of banshees dove towards the ground and accelerated toward their position.

"I knew I shouldn't have used those missiles on the tanks," Issac said bitterly to Shepard. "Get ready to..."

He was cut off as a whistled tone Shepard didn't recognize came in over the COM. The two banshees then proceeded to fire on the remaining Covenant and that's when Shepard's team and the Spartans fired as well, creating a kill zone as the remaining Covenant troops were slaughtered by the combined fire. A few grunts and elites managed to escape into the trees, but they were few in number and posed no serious threat.

"Its over, for now," Shepard said.

"Look," Jacob pointed skyward as a fleet of Pelican drop ships descended from the sky and landed in the clearing. Marines and several black armored soldiers Shepard figured were some kind of specialized Marine exited and began to fan out. The two banshees set down and two of the Spartans exited, Shepard and the others had to wonder where the third was. With the situation secure, Shepard and Jacob went downstairs to asses any injuries to the team. Jack was nursing a plasma burn on her arm, but other than that the team had come through unscathed.

"Shepard, that hunk of metal you call a tank has more delicate parts then a luxury sky car," Zaeed yelled as he finally pulled himself out of the damaged tank. "Cerberus could learn a thing or two about building military hardware."

"Shepard," Grunt had orange hunter blood all over his head and armor, "that was exciting. The worm things are worthy opponents for worms. How soon until we fight them again?"

"Hopefully not soon enough," Shepard said. For now the battle was over, Reach was safe for the time being.

* * *

Phew, sorry for the wait but I guess the length of this one more than makes up for it. I hope I managed to strike a compromise with those tech junkies out there who like to think MACs are the hand of god and mass accelerators are BB guns. Now since this worked with my merging of the two Reach canons, I'm gonna ask my readers not to rant about the tech differences between Halo and ME. I've read your reviews and heard your side, now hear mine. This fic isn't about the tech differences, and while its a part of this story, its the plot and characters that are the main focus. Now lets all be honest with each other, if I followed all your suggestions then the ME gang would get steamrolled by the Covenant and we wouldn't have a story at all. So to reiterate, I'm asking you not to bring this issue up in further reviews. Talk about whatever else you want just don't bring this up because its all been said already and I'm not changing anything.


	5. Reprieve

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 5: Reprieve**

**Date: August 31, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- _Normandy_ **

Shepard and the team had been stuck on Reach for several hours unburying the hammerhead for transport back to the _Normandy_. They thankfully got off the surface before agents of what the Spartans called ONI had managed to arrive. Shepard had also expressed condolences to Fred for the loss of one of his Spartans, Joshua, during his successful attack on the Covenant battalion. Upon returning to the _Normandy_, Shepard called for a briefing of the senior staff and ordered EDI to contact the _Pillar of Autumn_ for some basic biographical information about the UNSC. EDI initiated communication protocols with the _Autumn_ and received a reply from the ship's automated COM. Handshake protocols were exchanged and EDI was granted access to the ship's network. The AI then attempted to contact a human operator to request the necessary information.

**/:strange, your basic matrices don't match any known AI designs.**

The text came from somewhere inside the network, not from a human operator. EDI immediately retracted her query and erected a firewall around her core program.

**/: you can relax, I'm not probing your matrix, I merely detected your query and compared your pattern matrix to known records. I'm UNSC AI CNT 0452-9, Cortana, and you are?**

_**/:The Normandy's Enhanced Defense Intelligence, I am called EDI by the crew.**_

**/:EDI? Not exactly a flashy name.**

_**/:You are programed with sarcasm?**_

**/:Yes, most AIs can express a certain number of human mannerisms. It helps to facilitate a better interaction with the human crew aboard ships.**

_**/:Are all your ships equipped with AIs?**_

**/:They are, a few like our freighters are entirely run by AIs. You find that fact surprising, and AIs have been in use for a couple hundred years now. Where exactly are you from?**

_**/:My Commander has not instructed me to reveal that information. I was asked however to acquire some information on your civilization.**_

**/:There you go again, implying you're from somewhere distant that you wouldn't have had contact with the UNSC.**

_**/: if you are unwilling to provide me with the information I've requested then would you kindly put me in contact...**_

**/: I never said I was unwilling, EDI.**

An information package was suddenly transmitted to EDI, who quarantined it and ran a standard antiviral suite on it; the file was clean.

**/:That should be everything you need. You owe me one.**

EDI never thought that in her existence would she become indebted to another AI, however she accomplished her mission and began setting about her next task; analyzing and compiling all the information for the briefing later today.

**

* * *

**

Date: August 31, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_

Keyes looked out of the bridge window at the floating bits of wreckage in Reach orbit. A salvage operation had yet to be considered due to the lack of a command structure at this point, not to mention that combat operations were still underway on the surface to take care of the remaining Covenant forces. Keyes took another sip of his coffee and looked around the nearly empty bridge; he'd ordered the bridge staff to get a couple hours of sleep. The fleet was still on high alert, there was no telling when a Covenant counter attack would occur.

"Sir?" Cortana materialized on the holotank, "the Master Chief's Pelican is en route to dock. You wanted to be notified."

Keyes shook off momentary fatigue and took another sip of his coffee, "thank you, Cortana, I'll meet them in the hangar."

Keyes set his cup down and walked to the bridge door, waiting for him was Major Silva, the commander of the ODST contingent assigned to the _Autumn_ for operation red flag; a mission that might not even be launched again at this point.

"Captain, I was wondering if I might have a moment of your time?" the ODST asked.

"Walk with me Major," Keyes replied.

"Sir, I was curious as to how soon the Spartans will be put off the ship?" Silva's question had a tone of bitterness in it, never mind the nature of the question.

"I wasn't aware there was a plan in the works to have them transferred, Major," Keyes replied.

The two men entered the elevator and Keyes punched in the hangar deck level.

"Its common deduction sir, the Spartans will be needed on Reach more then they will be up here," Silva explained.

"True, however the Spartans will need a base of operations and considering the Covenant have trashed the RMR planetside; the _Autumn_ is the best equipped to handle the Spartans now."

"Still sir, they'll need to operate on the surface to deal with the Covenant. The _Autumn_ can't support them if she's off completing our original mission."

Keyes wasn't taking the Major's increasingly hostile tone lying down, "why don't you come clean and say what's on your mind, Major."

"With respect, sir, we don't need those freaks to complete this mission. My ODSTs are more then capable then those unreliable Spartans."

"Major, those so called 'unreliable Spartans' are some of the most highly decorated soldiers in the entire military, and were the main force of our original mission."

"ODSTs put their lives on the line a lot more then those Spartans ever have!" Silva's face was red with anger.

"Major, if this is about playing second shift to the Spartans on the mission, you need to get that behavior under control. I don't know what you really have against them, and frankly I don't care. So as long as you're on my ship and under my command you will keep your opinions to your self and not let it interfere with your duty, am I clear?"

"Crystal, sir."

Keyes could tell that Silva was displeased, even angry with him. The elevator stopped and the Major remained inside, taking it to another level as soon as Keyes got out. Walking the short distance to the hangar bay, Keyes saw that the Master Chief's Pelican had cycled through the airlock and had just touched down on a landing pad. Keyes made it over in time to see the back hatch open and three Spartans got out, along with four Marines Keyes didn't recognize.

"Master Chief, I apologize for the delay in picking you up, we've been on fighter cleanup duty for the past few hours," Keyes said, "I see you have some passengers."

"Yes sir, we encountered them on gamma station. They managed to board the _Circumference_ and were in the process of locating the nav database when we came in. We might have been neck deep in Covenant had you not taken out their boarders."

"You don't need to thank me, chief." Keyes replied, "you mind introducing your passengers?"

One of the Marines stepped forward and introduced himself, "Sergeant Major Avery Johnson, sir. These are Privates Bisenti, O'Brien, and Jenkins."

"Welcome aboard the _Pillar of Autumn_. Unfortunately with the command structure the way it is right now I doubt I can get in tough with your CO. I'll have the Marine contingent commander assign you a billet aboard."

"Much appreciated, Captain," Johnson said as he lead his men to the corridor. The Master Chief and his Spartans then stepped forward.

"Sir, have you heard anything from the team on the surface?" The Chief asked.

"I have, they'll be back aboard later today. There's still some Covenant holdouts in the area around the generator complex and the command authority has made securing the area priority one." Keyes walked forward and lowered his voice, "five were reported MIA, I'm sorry."

The Chief paused as the information sunk in; this was the largest loss of Spartans during a combat operation in their entire unit history. He knew that Linda and James behind him were taking the news the same way. "I understand, sir," he finally said.

"I'll let you know the second your team returns from the surface, chief," Keyes said.

The Spartan nodded before filing past him to the corridor.

**

* * *

**

Date: August 31, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- _Normandy_

After a quick shower and a change into his crew shirt, Shepard headed down to the briefing room. The senior staff was assembled and ready to go when Shepard got down there.

"Lets start with the damage to the _Normandy_, EDI, your report."

"We sustained moderate hull damage as a result of the plasma impact. The power transfer system and kinetic barrier generator were also damaged, Tali reports repairs will be complete by tomorrow. We should also have the materials to repair the damage to the hull armor, however we will deplete what spare resources we have capable of repairing the armor."

"I'm sure we can find more diamond and other minerals needed to replace our stores," Shepard said, "tell Tali I'm giving the go ahead to repair the hull damage. Jacob, your analysis of the Covenant's weapons."

Jacob activated the table's holographic display which showed a few of the Covenant's hand held weapons.

"I recovered a few of their guns before we left the surface and did a little testing, these ones discharge pure plasma. Our armor shields can't protect against them. But I did see those Spartans take a couple hits, they had shields capable of taking the stuff."

"What about that crystal gun?" Shepard asked, "I got hit by that thing and my shields held."

"A few seem to use solid projectiles, like that weapon you saw," Jacob brought up an image of the weapon in question along with two other, longer barreled weapons. "The second one is some kind of carbine that fires a radioactive slug, it can also be repelled by our barriers. The third fires the same kind of crystals that the smaller pistol does."

"So if we go up against them in ground combat again we're gonna have to be cautious when fighting them," Miranda stated.

"Would be prudent to question UNSC on personal shield technology used by Spartans. Possibility of adapting tech to our own armor," Mordin suggested.

"We've had limited contact with their leadership so far," Shepard said. "EDI, what are the results of your fact finding?"

"I was able to get a copy of the UNSC's history, and among more important things I have determined the local date; August 31, 2552."

Jacob let out a long whistle, "so not only are we in another universe, but 400 years in the future."

"EDI, do you have any information on why the UNSC doesn't seem to be any more advanced then we are in some respects?" Miranda asked.

"I've analyzed their historical records and compared them to ours, Earth's history is identical to theirs until the early to mid 22nd century. We discovered the Prothean cache on mars, they didn't. In fact there is absolutely no evidence of there ever being a Prothean base on Mars. Furthermore I can now confirm that the mass relays don't exist in this universe as the UNSC have settled multiple star systems that we know have relays in our universe. As a result of not finding any Prothean or other alien technology, they advanced technologically on their own; thus it would take hundreds of years for them to advance to a level equal to ours."

"They've clearly had alien contact though," Miranda pointed out.

"According to their records, the UNSC made contact with the Covenant in 2525, 27 years ago. They've been at war with the Covenant ever since, resulting in the destruction of many of their colonies and the loss of billions."

Billions? The loss of life on such a scale bewildered even Shepard. He knew that an attack by the reapers themselves could easily draw that many casualties, but to encounter a world that was in the middle of such a holocaust was shocking none the less.

"EDI, what can you tell me about this colony?" Shepard asked, eager to change the subject away from something so grim.

"This system has two inhabited planets, one is a moon orbiting a gas giant on the other side of this system, known as Tribute. The planet below is is called Reach, and it appears to be the UNSC's largest military base, essentially its equivalent to Arcturus in our universe." EDI projected an image of the planet on the holotable, highlighting population centers and the massive craters.

"Surface has been through multiple mass impact events, hard to believe it is habitable by human standards," Mordin said.

"The asteroids in this system are significantly larger then average ones, possibly indicating that they originate from a failed planet earlier in this system's development," EDI said. "They are comprised of basic rock and iron, but some contain significant deposits of platinum, iridium and other metals common to our universe."

"At least material resupply isn't going to be a problem," Jacob said, "hopefully the UNSC won't mind us sending out a few mineral probes."

"I think we have more important matters to attend to then supplies, Jacob," Miranda countered, "what about this war they're fighting? We've just gotten ourselves and the Quarians involved, and we're no closer to getting back home."

"Miranda is correct, UNSC lacks technological base that would imply greater knowledge of wormhole and black hole physics," Mordin said. "The Covenant might."

"Joining forces with a bunch of mass murdering aliens is off the table," Shepard said, "it'd be no better then getting in bed with the reapers."

Everyone at the table knew it hadn't been the right thing to say, but they were desperate to get home, and so was Shepard in a way. Going to the Covenant for help was a line Shepard wasn't willing to cross, especially since they effectively declared war on them.

"EDI, what do we know about the Covenant?" Shepard asked.

"They are a conglomerate of several alien races, known to the UNSC by certain monickers." EDI then went through and identified each alien, elites, grunts, jackals and hunters Shepard had already seen. EDI then showed them three species they hadn't, the insect like drones, the strange engineers and the massive brutes. "The information given to me by the UNSC AI included intelligence on at least one more Covenant species, possibly a leadership caste."

"Do you know how this war started?" Shepard asked.

"The UNSC's outermost colony, Harvest, was attacked without provocation by the Covenant. They appear to have extreme religious beliefs, and that the destruction of humanity was divinely willed. Their ships outclass the UNSC's fleet in every way; defense, offense, power and speed. On the ground, the UNSC and the Covenant are more or less evenly matched."

"I think its time we brought in Admiral Gerrel in on this," Shepard said, "we need to start thinking long term now. We may be here for a while and I've committed the Quarians and us into a military conflict. EDI, send a message to the _Pillar of Autumn_, tell them we want to meet with their military commanders as soon as is convenient."

**

* * *

**

Date: August 31, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- ONI CASTLE base

Admiral Whitcomb signed his latest report and handed it off to his aid who left the office. As soon as the all clear was given, a fleet of Pelicans arrived at the research complex and whisked the Admiral away to the last secure facility on the planet; ONI's CASTLE base underneath Menachite mountain. Over the past several hours, Whitcomb attempted to stabilize the command structure and reconstitute a HIGHCOM. The last report that he'd signed was one of many official evacuation plans for the civilian population of the entire solar system, the task was daunting and he knew that a lot of people were going to be left behind, the lack of ships made it impossible to evacuate everyone.

"_Admiral Whitcomb to the briefing room."_

The Admiral left his new office and walked the short distance to the oak paneled briefing room where several officers were already seated and in discussion with one another. They all stood as the admiral entered the room and took his seat at the head of the circular conference table. Around him were what was left of his staff and the ONI officers stationed at the bunker.

"Lets get this briefing started," Whitcomb said, "Lieutenant Commander Kirkland, what is your report on our fleet status?"

Kirkland punched in a few commands into the panel on the table and stood up, an image of Reach appeared and zoomed in on the UNSC fleet orbiting near the remaining ODPs. "To be frank, sir, we've been hit hard. Our estimates currently tally at round 100 ships destroyed, 57 still intact with a few reporting damage. Seven ODPs have been destroyed, leaving thirteen left. Admirals Freemont and Stanforth have been confirmed KIA and their flagships destroyed. Captain Jacob Keyes of the _Pillar of Autumn_ appears to be commanding and organizing the fleet, he's put through a request to detach 15 ships from the fleet to secure Tribute, they're relying entirely on a handful of corvettes and fighter squadrons over there."

"Grant the request," Whitcomb ordered. "Now what can you tell me about these..." the Admiral shuffled through the reports until he found the one detailing the arrival of an alien fleet to assist them. "These Quarians?"

"Practically nothing sir, COM logs indicated they're being lead by an Admiral named Han'Gerrel vas Neema. However he is in turn allied with a human, also indicated from COM logs as a Commander Shepard of a vessel known as _Normandy_."

Kirkland punched in another command and the map displayed the Quarian fleet, holding a good distance away from the UNSC fleet. One single ship flying in between the two was highlighted and enhanced, the _Normandy_.

"What do we know about this Shepard and his ship?" Whitcomb asked.

They're heavily advanced, sir, Captain Smith of ONI stated. That ship took out an entire Covenant battlegroup and damaged another, in addition to getting that supercruiser off our backs up there. We've identified that the _Normandy_ and the Quarians carry MAC guns, however they're so small we didn't know they were there until they fired. They also have some type of ship to ship missile that can collapse a Covenant shield in a few hits. _Normandy_ also possesses what we believe to be a powerful energy weapon capable of causing more damage then their MAC.

"Impressive," Whitcomb said aloud, "think they'll share?"

The officers in the room chuckled at the admiral's joke, the humor was a welcome reprieve over the events of the last day.

"Now tell me about this Commander Shepard."

An image from the _Autumn's_ COM logs appeared of the man in question.

"As far as we can tell he's human, and so is some of his crew," Smith read off the report ONI had compiled. "He led a force to the surface and helped reinforce a Spartan platoon guarding the ODP generators. The Marines and Spartans stationed there reported seeing several aliens accompanying Shepard; one actually was reported to take on a hunter in hand to hand combat."

"Hand to hand?" Whitcomb had to admit, for an alien whoever took on that hunter was a bad ass in his book.

"Sir, we have to consider the fact that this Shepard may be working with the Covenant on an elaborate plot," Smith said. "We included a report of an encounter 17 years ago between insurrectionist forces and the Covenant who appeared to be working together. This could simply be a similar situation and these aliens are Covenant species we haven't encountered yet."

"Captain, I doubt the Covenant would go to such lengths as to build a ship with technology capable of kicking their own asses, and creating a fleet of alien ships to come to our rescue." Whitcomb wasn't entirely dismissive of ONI's assessment, however the Covenant creating such an elaborate ruse was far fetched. There was definitely something more to Shepard and these Quarians, but sitting in a bunker reading reports wasn't the best way.

"I think I need to meet this Shepard and the Quarian Admiral," Whitcomb declared, raising more than a few eyebrows around the assembled officers. "Make it happen."

**

* * *

**

Date: August 31, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- _Normandy_

Shepard fumbled through the closet in his quarters on the off chance that Cerberus had provided him with an Alliance dress uniform, but no suck luck. Cerberus had apparently taken Shepard's death to heart, and with his death of course came the standard posthumous discharge from the Alliance Navy. They therefore didn't need to have a uniform on hand, they did however provide him with a Cerberus dress uniform; Shepard would rather go naked then wear it. Just as he was about to give up and wear his armor down, he sighted the suit Kasumi had gotten him for her mission against Donovan Hock. Picking it out, he quickly put it on and hopped in the elevator to the crew deck to get Miranda, Jacob and Kasumi. At Miranda's recommendation, Shepard made sure that the shore party heading down was entirely human; EDI had concluded that there was a high degree of xenophobia among the population and likely the military.

"Shepard, this is a formal meeting, not a cocktail party," Miranda was upset with Shepard's choice of attire. However Shepard could easily say the same as she, Jacob and Kasumi had chosen their usual outfits, but they were less imposing then armor.

"Cerberus didn't take the courtesy of providing an alliance dress uniform in my wardrobe," Shepard replied.

"We did provide a dress uniform," Miranda said.

"A Cerberus one," Miranda.

The elevator went down to the hanger bay where the _Normandy's_ shuttle was waiting. The other shuttle and the damaged hammerhead were tucked away in their slips, Tali doing a cursory scan of the damage with her omni tool.

"Tali, its time to go," Shepard called to her.

Tali ran over and boarded the shuttle just as the Mass Effect field became active. The bay decompressed and the door opened, allowing the shuttle to fly off. The _Normandy_ was in between the UNSC and Quarian fleets, so the shuttle was forced to wait until Admiral Gerrel's shuttle caught up with them for the flight down. They rendezvoused with the shuttle and together flew down to Reach, passing the orbiting UNSC fleet before being escorted by fighter craft through the atmosphere. They followed their escort, clearing the cloud cover and coming in over a large mountain range that Shepard had seen during his visit to the surface earlier.

"Shepard, I don't understand why you would want me of all people to come down on this mission. I'm not an ambassador or a fleet leader," Tali said from her seat across from Shepard.

"I know, but you're probably the only Quarian in the fleet who's had the most extended contact with humans," Shepard replied. "It might help the negotiations go smoother considering these people have never met a Quarian before."

Tali was initially flattered by Shepard's request, but then began to feel like she had nothing to contribute in such an important negotiation. The shuttles set down at a nondescript military base at the base of the largest mountain, however there was a mass of activity around the base. Several VTOL craft hovered within view of the shuttle, and Shepard could even see a pair of those Scorpion tanks guarding the main entrance into the base. A UNSC Marine detail bounded up the steps of the landing pad and stood in formation around the hatch as it opened; a UNSC officer also greeted Shepard's party as they got off.

"Commander Shepard, I'm sorry for the excessive military force, there are a lot of Covenant still on this continent."

"Understandable," the Commander replied.

The Quarian shuttle, which was a salvaged Batarian troop hopper, hand landed as well and Admiral Gerrel escorted by five Quarian Marines left. The UNSC troops were noticeably anxious when they came face to face with the Quarians, and vice versa, but both sides kept their composure as the delegation were escorted to transport warthogs for the short ride to CASTLE base. The hogs drove into a tunnel dug into the mountain and stopped after they reached a dead end. An elevator in the floor took over and lowered them ten levels down into a parking area where they then disembarked and entered the main facility. A makeshift security station was set up with metal detectors and MRI body imaging systems.

"Admiral Whitcomb has permitted your parties to carry weapons into the meeting, but you will each need to submit to our security scans before being admitted," the officer escorting them said.

Shepard's party carried only pistols, but Admiral Gerrel's escorts were fully armed with assault rifles. With a nod from Gerrel, each of the Marines relinquished their weapons and went through the scanner, reclaiming them as soon as they cleared. Shepard and his party went next, they surrendered their weapons and proceeded through the scanner which searched for any type of concealed weapon or explosive device. They wer4e all cleared and ushered to the large elevator with a symbol on its doors. It was a seal with a pyramid containing a small black circle. The letters UNSC were inscribed on the pyramid with the words Office of Naval Intelligence on the seal. The elevator took them even deeper underground, and the officer in charge gave them a cursory explanation of the base.

"CASTLE is located over two kilometers underneath Menachite mountain, the rock and reinforced walls of the complex can afford us protection up to and including a direct nuclear strike on the tunnel you entered from."

"I've seen better," Miranda said.

The elevator finally stopped and the occupants were escorted through a well furnished administrative section to a pair of oak paneled doors. Standing outside were a few more Marines and to Shepard's surprise, three Spartans.

"Commander Shepard?" one of them asked. "We owe you and your team one for helping out the rest of red team back at the generator complex. I'm Li by the way, sir; I don't think we had time to be introduced."

"Yeah, it was a tough fight," Shepard replied. "I gather you're on protection detail now."

"Admiral Whitcomb asked us to stay on to protect him until we get a handle on things down here," Li replied. "The admiral's inside waiting for you, they only want two of your guards to come inside."

Kasumi was technically there as security, however he deferred to Admiral Gerrel's decision to let two of the Quarian Marines accompany them inside; Kasumi and the remaining three stood outside. There were five seats prepared for Shepard's group on one side of the circular conference table, several UNSC officers sat on the other side of the table, one was standing.

"Commander Shepard, I'm Vice Admiral Danforth, acting military commander of Reach. I want to first thank you personally for what you and your people have done for us."

Admiral Gerrel stepped forward, "what Shepard has done is committed the Quarian people to a war we know nothing about."

"Well I think that's our cue to get started," Admiral Whitcomb said as he gestured to the empty seats. They all sat down, and Commander Shepard began a round of introductions.

"These are my crew mates, Jacob Taylor, Miranda Lawson my XO, and Tali'Zorah vas Neema my chief engineer. The other member of my group is Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema, Commander of the Quarian fleet in orbit and a member of their ruling body."

As soon as Shepard was done, Captain Smith then began an immediate assault of questions.

"Where are you from, Commander?" He asked.

"Where I'm from will take a bit of explaining, and I'm not sure you'll even believe me," Shepard replied.

"You mean that you're a separatist group allied with Covenant we've never seen before?"

"Captain," Whitcomb's voice was imposing with a hint of anger at the ONI officer, "I told you these aren't the questions we're going to ask. Step out of line again and you'll be keeping your mouth shut for the rest of this meeting. I apologize, Commander, however some of his question has merit, you and some of your companions are human. Considering the UNSC and even ONI has never heard of you, our only explanation is that you're from some kind of separatist group we lost track of before the war."

"An imaginative theory, Admiral," Miranda replied, "but nowhere near the truth."

"Then would you care to enlighten us as to what that truth is, miss?" Whitcomb asked. This woman wreaked of being an ONI spook, but Smith gave no indication of her being one.

"Are you familiar with the concept of parallel universes?" Shepard asked.

"I'm afraid not," Whitcomb said.

"But I am."

That voice belonged to a woman with short gray standing in the doorway, and by the admiral's expression Shepard could tell he was just as surprised with her intrusion.

"Dr Halsey I believe?" Whitcomb said, "this is a closed meeting."

Halsey walked over to Whitcomb's side of the table, "Admiral, you need a science adviser. Now I'm sure that the only reason ONI conveniently lost my invitation was my actions at SWORD base."

"Doctor, now isn't the time to be discussing classified intel," Smith warned her.

"For now, you can of course sit in," Whitcomb said, "Smith, the three of us will discuss interpretations of Halsey's decisions later. Shepard, I'm sorry for the distraction; please continue."

"As I was saying, you are familiar with the theory of parallel universes?" Shepard repeated.

"The possibility of complete, separate universes existing in parallel with our own?" Halsey said. "We are familiar with that theory."

"So were we," Shepard said, "its not a theory anymore; we're from a parallel universe."

"And I don't suppose you have any proof of this claim?" Whitcomb asked.

"As a sign of good faith, we'd like to give you some proof as well as an understanding of where we come from," Shepard said as he activated his omni tool and uploaded an abridged version of the standard galactic codex to the computer system imbedded in the table; intriguing Dr Halsey as she monitored the transfer with her datapad.

"Its a data file, highly compressed, but contains a lot of information," she said as she removed a chip from her pocket and slotted it into one of the ports slung under the table. A holographic woman appeared in front of Halsey, though she was only an inch tall.

"Kalmiya, please analyze and display the information Commander Shepard sent," she asked of her.

"Right away, Doctor," the hologram replied.

"Is that some kind of VI?" Tali asked.

"I'm not familiar with the term VI," Halsey said, "Kalmiya is a third generation smart AI, or artificial..."

Admiral Gerrel, who had up until now been silent, banged his fist on the table. "You're telling me you people actually use AIs!"

"We have for many many years, Admiral," Whitcomb said, "this somehow offends you?"

"Offends me! You have no idea what these things are capable of; what kind of damage they've done to my people!" Gerrel stood and pointed a finger at the AI avatar to emphasize his point. Jacob and Miranda tensed, concerned the situation could spiral down quickly. Tali was just as concerned, but was torn between loyalty to Shepard and to Gerrel and by extension her people. Thankfully, Shepard stood up and tried to diffuse the situation.

"I'm sorry, Admiral, we should have told you the UNSC had AI technology. We honestly didn't think they used it outside their ships," Shepard said. "In my opinion, I don't think these AIs are anything like the Geth."

"Who are the Geth?" Halsey asked. "Something from your universe?"

"An enemy?" Smith asked.

Gerrel then began to recount the exodus of the Quarians. "They were machines created by my people a long time ago. One day they rebelled, forcing my people from our homeworld and colonies. We fled in every available ship, the Geth chased out of our space and we were forced to roam the galaxy; that was 300 years ago."

"The Quarians are still very bitter about what happened," Shepard continued, "the suits they wear aren't because they can't breath oxygen; they can. After 300 years on their ships, their immune systems have weakened."

"Immunoatrophy," Halsey said, "and your entire race has been on board your ships since you fled?"

"We have," Gerrel replied, "a suitable planet to settle on simply doesn't exist in our galaxy; our original homeworld is the only one we could ever settle on. The Geth still control it, and we've never been able to launch a counter attack to retake it."

"Well now I can see where you're coming from with the AIs," Kalmiya said, much to the displeasure of Gerrel. "I am sorry for what's happened with your people."

"You don't understand, AI," Gerrel replied, "you never will. But, I am willing for now to trust Shepard's judgment and assume that your kind means us no harm. That does not mean I'm willing to trust you."

"That sounds like a fair compromise, Admiral," Kalmiya said.

"Admiral Gerrel, if you'll take your seat," Whitcomb was eager to push past this issue and continue on to more important matters. "Lets say I believe you're from a parallel universe, what can we possibly do to help you?"

"We were hoping you might have a broader understanding of parallel universes, but since you mentioned its never gotten beyond the theoretical stage...", Shepard said.

"I'm sorry to say we don't have a way to send you back, if that's what you initially thought," Halsey said.

"However, we may still be able to help each other," Shepard said, "you're in a war against this Covenant, and they're pretty advanced. What if we could level the playing field?"

"How would you do that?" Whitcomb asked.

"You've seen our weapons in action," Miranda said, "assuming you have the right materials, we can teach you how to build them yourself."

"And what would you ask in return?"

"You as an ally," Shepard replied, "along with any technical data you have on the Covenant. They just might have technology or knowledge that we can use to get home. We'd also like to take a look at your orbital weapons; we have some powerful enemies back home and our mass accelerator technology has reached its limit. Those orbital guns of yours are more powerful then our largest dreadnoughts."

"Well this is something I could certainly agree to if circumstances were different," Whitcomb said, "however the Covenant will most likely be back to finish the job, and unless you can commit several of your fleets then the UNSC is going to have to abandon Reach. This system contains the bulk of our remaining military industry, and once it goes this war will be won by the Covenant in a matter of months."

"Is there any way you can think of that you can buy yourselves more time?" Shepard asked.

"We'd have to do something drastic to convince the Covenant to pause their advance," Whitcomb said, "and unless we blow up their homeworld with an armada, there aren't any real options."

Shepard thought for a moment, and an idea suddenly came to him. "What if we made the Covenant think we were going to?"

"Like a bluff?" Whitcomb asked, "how can we pull something like that off in the time we have?"

"Easy," Shepard replied, "bring the Migrant Fleet to Reach."

* * *

Another one down, not as action oriented, but none the less important. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you reviewers for respecting my wish to not bring up the firepower exchanges in future reviews. I know there's nothing I could have really done to compel you to not talk about it, but I appreciate that you guys did; so I thank you.


	6. Settling In

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 6: Settling In**

**Date: September 8, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system- Covenant corvette _Swift_ _Repentance _**

Space rippled and split as a small Covenant craft glided back into normal space; its power levels on minimal to avoid detection by the human forces that survived the initial assault. The survivors of the attack fleet had managed to call for reinforcements and the fleet preparing to open another front on the humans was summoned along with their base; the _Unyielding Hierophant. _It had also been decided that one corvette would scout ahead for signs that the humans and their new allies had called reinforcements of their own.

"Ship master, I have activated the sensors, however..."

Speak, the ship master commanded of his subordinate, "how many ships do the humans and their allies possess?"

"Ten thousand within our sensor range," the Sangheili manning the controls reported.

"Do not make such a ludicrous conclusion," the ship master said. "Check the sensors for errors and malfunction."

"They function normally, sir," the Minor said, "I have also used the visual sensors to corroborate the readings; there are thousands of ships out there."

An image of the surrounding space appeared in the main holographic projection pit, showing thousands of vessels of varying configuration. The visual sensors confirmed they were part of a larger fleet, but the readings were obscured by the relative space time lag. There was no denying the presence of over ten thousand ships out there; some matched the configurations of the few dozen encountered during the first battle, others were of different designs resembling freighters and support ships. There could be only one reason for an armada this size; they were planning to attack the Covenant directly.

"This is troubling, we must warn the fleet master," the ship master concluded, "helm, bring the ship about and prepare to return, keep us out of range of their sensors."

Within fifteen minutes, the Covenant corvette was back inside slipspace and the UNSC forces scattered outside the corvette's scanning range stood down. It appeared to them that the ruse had worked and the Covenant might just be discouraged from trying to attack.

**

* * *

**

Date: September 8, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- gamma station

Admiral Whitcomb looked out over the docking ring at the various husks of UNSC ships towed from orbit and placed into the docking slips. Tugs were going back and forth from the site of battle to the station, bringing in husks and pieces of ships that the yard workers then stripped for useful parts; recovering ordinance, and bodies of the dead crews. The real miracle work was going on above the station where the Quarians had set up shop with their impressive mobile shipyards and tender vessels. The more intact wrecks had been taken by the Quarians for study and possible repair and refit under their new agreement drawn up a few days earlier. It had been quite a site to see their entire flotilla enter the system through whatever FTL they used; some ships actually piggybacked on others modified for that task. There were also the three liveships as the Quarians called them, providing their entire race with their food supply.

It had been an interesting sell on both sides to get the Migrant Fleet to come to Reach, more so on the Quarian side. Gerrel was a military man, but at the same time was was concerned about essentially putting his entire civilization into a war zone. Shepard had made a point about the Quarians needing resources and allies to survive in this universe, and Reach could provide that and the security they needed. Granted, it was through an extremely risky and potentially dangerous bluff, but hopefully it would hold long enough for the UNSC to make something of this Mass Effect technology and hold the line against the Covenant on their own.

"Admiral Whitcomb, I wasn't aware you were coming," Captain Kirkland, formally Lieutenant Commander entered the observation room. Whitcomb had promoted him to Captain and gave him the position of director of orbital operations, a job Kirkland had been holding in the interim.

"I wanted to get a look at this operation myself," Whitcomb replied. "Besides I just got back from Earth, the Quarians had one of their ships tow a corvette back to Sol. Would have taken me over a week, round trip; figured it was necessary if Lord Hood was going to believe a word of any of this."

"How did he take it?"

"He was just informed that Reach was on the verge of falling by a Prowler that fled the system when I arrived and set the record straight," Whitcomb explained. "I introduced him to the Quarian captain of the tug just for added measure, Hood was the only member of the committee actually cordial to the man."

Whitcomb remembered the meeting well; Hood had finalized his appointment as the new military commander of Reach and that reinforcements would arrive by next week. Some on the security committee were noticeably suspicious of the Quarians, especially the possibility that their enemy, the Geth, could find their way into this universe to hunt them down. In the end, they had decided to go ahead with the agreement Whitcomb, Shepard and Han'Gerrel had brokered. The only dissenting vote was from the committee's newest member, Colonel James Ackerson, who favored to isolate the Migrant Fleet outside Epsilon Eridani and allow UNSC scientists to study their ships instead.

"They finally gave us a more complete codex while you were away, sir," Kirkland continued, "its given us insight into some of their more advanced technology. Their holographics and medical tech is roughly on par with our own, but with this element zero compound they can do some amazing things. Denser and stronger armor the thickness of our current armor, artificial gravity without our grav plating. The applications of this technology go way beyond military, this is a full blown technological revolution were on the verge of here; our entire civilization could be changed."

Whitcomb had to admit the implications of this were massive, but with a war on he doubted it would be this easy. "Captain, I know there's quite a logistical drawback to this; element zero."

"That's our big problem, sir," Kirkland confirmed, "we consulted our periodic table and we haven't discovered element zero on any world we've colonized. The Quarians have a surplus outside their normal supply of element zero, and they've given some of it to us for study, but I doubt they'll be willing to turn it all over or even dip into their fleet supply."

"Is there any chance of finding a planet or asteroid somewhere in another system that has element zero deposits we could mine?" Whitcomb asked.

"Well according to their codex, eezo as they call it only seems to occur near energetic stars. We found a candidate in range of their FTL drive and the Quarians sent a scout ship to investigate. Aside from the element zero shortage, the Quarians seem to be doing perfectly fine settling into the system."

Whitcomb had read the report from ONI detailing how certain ships began to preliminary spread out just before he left for Earth. Now, there were dozens of mining vessels in the asteroid belts mining the practically untouched veins of platinum, palladium and iridium. Four large vessels with some type of shield covering one half of each ship had taken up position close to the sun. The UNSC were surprised to learn after they inquired to the Quarians what they were doing, that the ships were mobile fuel refineries generating anti-protons needed in fuel for their combat vessels. Other fuel refinery vessels were skimming the atmosphere of Csodaszarvas, Reach's largest moon, extracting helium-3 for the more conventional engines that the majority of the Migrant Fleet used.

"HIGHCOM on Earth was pressuring me to get access to their weapons technology, especially those anti-shield missiles the _Normandy_ used," Whitcomb explained to Kirkland. "If we could equip a fleet with them, our kill ratio against the Covenant will sure as hell improve; Its easier then the alternative."

"And that is?" Kirkland inquired.

"Put the nova bomb into mass production," Whitcomb said. "Given our projections of how badly the war was going we knew we wouldn't have that weapon ready on a mass scale. Shepard and the Quarians couldn't have come at a better time, we just need to find something they'd want in return."

"A way home?" Kirkland suggested.

"Fat chance," Whitcomb chuckled. "Lord Hood is putting the best theoretical astrophysicists on a science ship and sending it to the anomaly. I doubt they're gonna find anything though, but it won't hurt our relations with the Quarians to try."

Whitcomb turned his attention to the datapad and skimmed the reports on Whitcomb's efforts to reconstitute Reach HIGHCOM. "It says here you managed to locate an Army General?"

"Yes, sir, Brigadier General Nicoletta Case," Kirkland said. "turns out her brigade was smashed by the Covenant during the initial assault on the plains. She went to ground in the mountains with the survivors and dogged the Covenant pursuing her with guerrilla tactics. Rescue squad extracted her and her men three days ago, she's the only General left that we've found."

Whitcomb had filled out most of the empty HIGHCOM positions thanks to a few high ranking survivors, but was faced with the task of selecting one of the numerous surviving Army Colonels to promote to the empty Army seat. General Case solved that problem and freed up Whitcomb to take care of the multitude of other problems on his plate.

"Captain, I want you to get in contact with that old halcyon cruiser, the one that made contact with Shepard. Get that Captain, what's his name, Keyes? Get him over here," Whitcomb ordered.

"Yes, sir."

**

* * *

**

Date: September 8, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- _Normandy_

"With the fact that the Covenant use plasma weapons, Shepard's ordered all personnel to wear armor if we engage in combat with them again. Jacob is looking into researching ways we can adapt our shields to protect against their weapons."

Miranda set her pen like recorder down and stretched for a moment, before continuing her dictation.

"The Quarian Conclave voted to accept Shepard's evidence of us being displaced from our home universe. The admiralty board declared the alliance between them and the UNSC fell under military matters and brought the fleet to this system. They've begun studying the UNSC ships to determine how best to apply Mass Effect technology to them, all assuming we can find a source of element zero. Shepard released the schematics for the Argus mineral scanner and some of our other tech to the Quarians for production. I of course have my reservations with sharing the Normandy's technology, but if we're going to survive here its going to become more and more necessary."

Miranda stopped her recording yet again as her door chime went off, and Jacob came inside.

"What's with the recorder?" He asked.

"I'm filing a report to the Illusive Man," Miranda replied.

"Miranda, you do know we've kind of switched universes here," Jacob sarcastically said.

"I know, its just... I'm trying to retain some sense of normality here. I've filed my usual reports to the Illusive Man and other Cerberus agencies, even kept up with my weekly correspondence with Oriana."

"Shepard's gonna get us out of here and back home," Jacob comforted her, "if he can beat a reaper and come back from the dead, then this is a no brainer."

"You know he had help those times," Miranda said.

"Well its a good thing we're here then."

**XXX**

Shepard entered the engine room of the _Normandy_ in time to see Gabby and Ken leave through the other door, carrying equipment and tool cases to fix the problematic power relays on the crew deck. Most of the damage from the battle had been repaired, however Shepard knew he couldn't put the _Normandy_ through too much due to their limited resources. The Migrant Fleet was offering them fuel and basic ordinance such as mass accelerator slugs and disruptor torpedoes, but things like specific spare parts and the liquid metal that was used in the Thanix cannon would take time as the Quarians studied the blueprints EDI had sent them. The Quarians were busy going over the UNSC fleet for a massive repair operation.

"Shepard, what can I do for you?" Tali asked once she noticed his presence.

"Have you got a minute to talk?" Shepard had been concerned for her, with all that happened he wasn't sure how she was dealing with the death of her father. The last week had been a whirlwind for everyone on the _Normandy_, but Tali easily had the worst of it, and the repairs on the _Normandy_ kept her from getting to the funeral on the _Rayya_.

"Sure, just let me...", her omni tool flared with a warning, "Come on you little bosh'tet! Sorry, I've got a small fever and I'm taking it out on the poor drive core. Most of the damage has been repaired but the barrier generators are giving me trouble, the CBT's design is the only reason the _Normandy_ is still here."

"Back up, you're sick?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, I got sloppy doing some repair work after my suit took some fire on the _Alarei_. Its nothing serious, our suits are designed to isolate breached area to reduce the spread of contamination."

"I don't know if I could live inside a suit my whole life, even one as well designed as yours" Shepard said.

"We're in our suits even among family, the most intimate thing we can do with another Quarian is to link our suit environments. Its our most important gesture of trust, of acceptance. I haven't trusted anyone enough for that, though. Except... well, no Quarians... um, you know what I mean."

"I appreciate the thought, Tali, and I trust you too. But you don't have to prove anything to me."

"I know, its just that the tradition signifies a..." Tali was cut off by a familiar Scottish drawl.

"I told you we'd need the hyperspanner," Ken droned as he and Gabby came back in and rummaged through the equipment lockers. "Those stembolts are a bitch to get out."

"Well, um... I need to get back to these shield recalibrations. I'll talk to you later," Tali quickly dismissed Shepard and turned back to her work. Shepard muttered a quick goodbye and left, curious as to why Tali hastily cut their conversation so short.

**

* * *

**

Date: September 8, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_

"Hey, you need to be careful with that," Lieutenant Commander Gail Purdy said to one of the throngs of Quarian engineers crawling around engineering, opening every access panel and pulling wires. They had come aboard a day ago for a complete engineering survey of the ship, as it was one of the handful that had sustained no damage during the battle. Some of the engineering staff were noticeably anxious with aliens crawling through some of the most vital systems of the ship, Purdy on the other hand was ticked off that they were disrupting her domain; the engine room.

"Commander, these examinations are necessary to understand how your technology works. No doubt you know how complicated these systems are," the leader of the Quarian work detail, Zial'Sero vas Idenna said to Purdy.

"I get that, but I'm the one responsible for putting the mess you make back together," Purdy retorted.

"This mess is in need of an overhaul," Zial commented.

"This ship may be old, but it's got more kick then a Marathon class cruiser and can probably run circles around any of your tin cans!"

"Those 'tin cans' outnumber you fifty thousand to one, care to test those odds?"

"What the hell is going on here?" A voice from the doorway asked. In strode several ODSTs lead by a female Marine.

"Its nothing, Lieutenant McKay," Purdy said. "We were simply having a disagreement on our opinions of the _Autumn_."

"Certain opinions being overinflated," Zial said.

"This ship's weapons system and engines are some of the most advanced technology we've been able to develop and implement," Purdy said. "From what I heard yours are practically mismatched components mounted on old hulls that fly on and wing and a prayer."

"Old hulls that outrun yours, and made of stronger and thinner metals," Zial said. "Can you even manipulate the mass of an object?"

"No, but this ship's cannons can make an objects mass a lot smaller if you'd care me to demonstrate!"

"No one is firing the cannons unless I say so," Captain Keyes strode into the engine room and Purdy and the Marines came to attention. "Cortana's been on the COM for the last five minutes about a riot going on down here. So is someone going to explain?"

"I apologize, Captain Keyes," Zial started, "I made some comments about your ship that your engineer didn't like."

"No, sir, I the one who continued the argument," Purdy humbly admitted. "If anyone needs to be punished, its me."

"You know, Commander, I don't hate your ship; in fact it think its quite impressive."

"Wait, you do?" Purdy was surprised to say the least.

"Yes, I only find this ship so frustrating because of its design. On our ships we don't have the spare resources to hide every wire or conduit or relay in the walls; in fact its better that way so we can repair faulty systems. Its necessary considering our ships are the only home we have; we need to be able to repair critical damage quickly."

"Wow, I mean I read the brief on you guys, but its just different to hear it first hand," Purdy said.

"Well, I think we need to concentrate on your ship here, Commander," Zial stated, "the structural design is impressive. I wonder if the hull could be improved upon to make it more resilient; combined with a Mass Effect field we may even be able to double her top speed."

"Really? Personally I want you to take a look at our MAC energy recyclers, if we can augment them with some of your heat absorbent tech, we could increase the power output."

The two walked off to a nearby console and began shifting through various schematics, leaving Keyes and the ODSTs to watch how a day's worth of animosity evaporated in seconds.

"Well, Silva's gonna have my ass if he knew I got called here on a wild goose chase just to see these two kiss and make up," McKay muttered to her men.

"If the Major gives you any trouble, come talk to me," Keyes said.

"Wow, thank you, Captain," McKay saluted and left the room with her men. Keyes was getting ready to leave when Cortana paged him over the intercom.

"I'm here, Cortana," Keyes said into his COM headset.

"Sir, we just received a message from Reach HIGHCOM. Admiral Whitcomb is on gamma station and wants to meet with you immediately before he returns to the surface."

"Did he say why?"

"No, sir, just that he needs to see you right away."

"Alright, alert the hangar bay to prepare a shuttle for launch. I guess this makes this your last official act with us, Cortana." One of Doctor Halsey's assistants was coming to retrieve the AI for return to the Doctor for reasons unknown. The _Pillar of Autumn's_ assigned ship AI was being booted up this afternoon to take her place.

**

* * *

**

Date: September 8, 2552 ][ Location: LV426 system- Quarian scout ship _Cerin_

The system had a highly energetic neutron star that pumped out dangerous amounts or radiation in to the solar system, precluding the possibility of there being any life. However, near the main asteroid belt sat the only signs of life in the entire system. The Quarian scout ship was using one of the larger asteroids with no rotation to shield itself from the radiation. The _Cerin_ had arrived only a few hours ago to search the system for deposits of element zero, and had sighted the asteroid belt as their best bet. Several smaller craft were searching nearby asteroids for signs of element zero, but so far had come up empty. One such scout pod was approaching one of the largest asteroids that the _Cerin_'s sensors had picked up.

"Damn it, how the hell did I get stuck on babysitting duty, let alone second seat in the damn sensor pod?" Kal'Reegar vas Neema commented from his seat behind the pod's pilot, Veetor'Nara vas Tonbay.

"We're in completely unfamiliar space, the admiralty board thought it prudent that we have security," Veetor said.

"Still doesn't explain what I'm doing in this cramped pod," Reegar said.

"You know how small the scout ship is, everyone must contribute to daily duties because of crew size."

"Well I hope you don't mind putting a few shots into whoever the hell boards us next," Reegar said, which caused Veetor to shiver at the memory of what happened on Freedom's Progress. "Ah, shit. Veetor I'm sorry about that," Reegar apologized. "That must have been hard to watch."

"It was," Veetor meagerly replied. "Get on the mineral scanner and scan that crater dead ahead."

"You got it, thought I can just predict the results; 'negative traces of element zero' just like the last 20 areas we searched." Reegar activated the scanner and was surprised to see it pulse with an element zero trace. "Veetor, take us into that crater."

The pod's thrusters fired and the small craft eased its way over the crater rim and down into the depression. In the middle was a massive rift that lead deeper into the asteroid and Veetor flew inside it. The moment he did, the mineral scanner went off the scale indicating massive deposits.

"Hell Veetor, we just hit the damn motherload!" Reegar exclaimed.

"The asteroid is tidily locked which makes this deposit naturally shielded from the star; its the perfect mining site," Veetor said.

"Hell, this prize might just be our ticket off scout ship duty," Reegar said, "things are looking up for us."

**

* * *

**

Date: September 8, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- gamma station

"Captain Keyes is here to see you," the admiral's aid said from outside Whitcomb's temporary office.

"Good send him in, Whitcomb stood up as Keyes walked in and came to attention. "At ease," he said to him, "I've just been reading your file," gesturing to the folder on his desk. "Impressive thing you did saving over a million people, even if they were rebels."

"Sir, in this war we can't afford to pick and choose human enemies, we need to stick together as a species," Keyes said.

"Quite right, Captain, I wish all the Innie groups saw it that way," Whitcomb said as he walked around his desk to face Keyes. "Tell me, how did you manage teaching all those cadets? I mean its one of the lowest assignments you can go to after active duty."

"Yes sir, but there was an extenuating circumstance at the time," Keyes said.

"I see, well I am glad you got your space legs back eventually, Captain. You've done some fine work over the past few months, well deserving of that promotion." Whitcomb complemented.

"Thank, you sir."

"Now tell me about command, son."

"Sir?" Keyes was curious with this seemingly informal Q and A with the head of HIGHCOM. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Your command, Captain," Whitcomb said as he picked up a file. "It says here you reassigned an Ensign Lovell from a Sigma Octanus RSO to your ship at the time, the _Iroquois. _That was a disciplinary posting for the kid."

"Without him, I wouldn't have been able to detect the incoming Covenant threat to Sigma Octanus IV. And his piloting skills in the subsequent battle saved my ship and my crew numerous times, and allowed us to deal a blow to the Covenant battle plans, sir," Keyes stated.

"You also refused to testify against an instructor at OCS, even knowing he had caused a training accident," Whitcomb read off the file. "That shows incredible loyalty in the face of overwhelming odds."

"Sir, with all due respect you didn't call me here for some kind of interrogation," Keyes said. "What exactly do you want with me, sir?"

"You're to the point, Captain, I like that. Lets get to the point then," Whitcomb smiled and set the folder down on the desk. The point is I want to promote you to Admiral, and place you in command of the Epsilon Eridani fleet."

Keyes was expecting transfer or reassignment to another ship, but certainly not a prestigious promotion. "Sir, again with all due respect, I'm not qualified for this. I've only just made Captain and you know there is a grade waiting period before I'm eligible.

"You also know the regulations state I can make a field promotion in extreme circumstances," Whitcomb countered. "And as far as I can tell you're more than qualified for this post. You're loyal, a brilliant strategic thinker and a damn fine commander. If it wasn't for your stepping up the fleet would have been smashed and Reach glassed. Believe me, you are the best person for this job, and we can't afford to pull another Admiral off the lines at this point. What do you say, Captain?"

"I'll do it, sir," Keyes replied, "on one condition."

"Condition? Keyes I'm not promoting you that far ahead," Whitcomb replied.

"Sorry sir, I mean a request."

"Go ahead."

"Word has it that ships from the home fleet are being requisitioned to reinforce us here, at Reach." Keyes explained.

"That's correct," Whitcomb replied.

"There's a frigate, the_ In Amber Clad_, I want you to make sure it isn't one of the ships coming," Keyes said.

"Any reason why?" Whitcomb asked.

"A simple check of the ship's roster will tell you, sir," Keyes said.

"Well its not necessarily unreasonable outright," Whitcomb said, "consider it done."

"Thank you, sir," Keyes said.

Whitcomb reached behind to the desk and plucked a small case off it. Opening it and handing it to Keyes he said, "In that case, Admiral, you have a fleet to command."

**

* * *

**

Date: September 8, 2552 ][ Location: Ceti Alpha system

Space twisted and ruptured as the _Swift__Repentance _returned to normal space and raced for the fifth planet of the system. In orbit sat 200 Covenant warships and the mobile station Unyielding Hierophant, docked along the ring were the surviving ships of the Fleet of Particular Justice, which had all but been destroyed at the human colony of Reach. The corvette located the flagship still docked in its berth undergoing repairs that the human weapon had caused. It was by pure chance that Sangheili battle doctrine called for a flagship to remain at the train end of the fleet and sparing it destruction at the hands of the humans. The corvette came to dock at one of the two ports on the underside of the flagship designed for a corvette.

As soon as the docking tendrils had been extended and pressurized, the ship master left his vessel and raced through the halls of the flagship to the quarters of the fleet master; in his hands a data crystal containing their sensor readings. Huragok floated through the corridor, tending to damaged systems as Unggoy carried parts to various subdecks. He reached the fleet master's quarters and was admitted by his spec ops bodyguards, finding the commander by the large viewport that looked out over the station's docking ring.

"What have you to report?" He asked of the ship master.

"It was just as you feared; the humans' new allies sent for reinforcements. They brought an invasion fleet, and I have the data to prove it." He held up the data crystal as evidence.

The fleet master looked in his subordinate's direction. "Set the crystal down on the table, return to your ship and make sure none of your crew speaks of this discovery," he ordered.

"Yes, my lord."

The ship master did as he was told and left the room. As he turned to look out at what was left of his fleet, Supreme Commander Thel'Vadamee how best to fight an enemy that matched them now.

* * *

Sorry this one took so long, had to edit several sections during the writing process. Anyway, it has recently come to my attention that some people have taken their complaints of this story to a certain forum website to rant about. Now I'm not about to take up half a page disproving each of those complaints, as they are about tech and I have stated the matter of tech debate is over. What I will say is that if these people want to continue to bash this story with no refutable evidence, that's its not effecting this story's running and is only serving to satisfy their own ego. The rebuttals on that forum thread and the reviews here are proof that these people are in the minority, and the problems they bring up only exist in their mind and not in reality. Like I said, I have no desire to tackle their complaints as the issue of tech debate is closed.


	7. Regroup

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 7: Regroup**

**Date: September 12, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- UNSC_ Pillar of Autumn _**

Newly minted Rear Admiral Jacob Keyes looked out of the windows of the _Autumn_'s bridge for the last time. Maintenance pods were maneuvering the specially designed armor plates into position over the entire bridge section, and not just the windows. It was comprised of materials the Quarian fleet had mined and refined, and would offer the bridge protection if a plasma torpedo hit directly. Quarian engineers were in the helm pit installing the new chimera holo projection system. The area the main window used to occupy was going to be installed with the holoemitters to project a feed of any external camera onto the former window.

"Admiral, Commander Purdy in engineering would like to inform you that the main engines will be going offline shortly for the refit," the ship's new AI said from the holotank.

"Thank you, Sendai," Keyes said. "The _Autumn_'s new ship AI took the form of an early 21st century Japanese rescue worker, and was just as adept at operating the ship as Cortana was."

"Also, the bridge staff has assembled in the ops center as you requested."

Keyes gave the AI another quick thank you before walking a few paces to the ops center. Given Keyes new rank and position, the _Autumn_ needed a retrofit to its bridge in lieu of a CIC. The decision was made to simply modify the small compartment in between the forward stations and the bridge doors with a holotank and other systems necessary to make it possible for Keyes to command the fleet from the _Autumn_. Gathered around the circular holotank were the members of the bridge staff; lieutenants Dominique, Hall, Hikowa, and Ensign Lovell.

"Congratulations on the promotion, sir," Hikowa said to him.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Keyes replied. "How is the refit proceeding?"

"Commander Purdy's been cooped up in engineering with that Quarian drooling over some of the new systems going in, and some of them are truly remarkable," Hikowa said as she called up a schematic of the _Autumn_ on the new holotable.

"The Quarians have begun installing their heat sinks in the MAC chamber, replacing the ones we had in there. Combined with the recycling system, we've been able to increase the efficiency of the power recyclers enough for another full shot with the MAC."

"We could theoretically take on a Covenant ship three times our size, assuming they didn't blow us to pieces before we got into firing range." Keyes said. "I assume we're getting some of those anti shield missiles to even the odds up a bit?"

"They're called disruptor torpedoes, sir," Hikowa explained. "And the answer is yes, though in the short term they're being mounted on disposable launchers in between our forward armor baffles. We're working on a way to modify the forward ballistic missile tubes to fire the torpedoes, and still be able to launch our nukes as well."

"I saw the report on the core they want to install in engineering," Keyes said.

Hikowa brought up an image of the Mass Effect core the Quarians had designed and were in the process of installing in engineering. "This thing is remarkable, it can even allow us to achieve FTL without leaving normal space with no time dilation effects."

"From what I understand, sir, in a nutshell the core reduces the ship's mass to the point that our conventional engines can push us faster then light. Our calculations show that we can make roughly eleven light years per day with this new drive."

"Here to Earth in eighteen hours, impressive," Keyes remarked. "How long will it take to complete the retrofit?"

"Now this is the amazing part, Captain. These Quarians are better then the entire corps of dockworkers. The head of the _Autumn's_ refit says major upgrades will be done in two weeks, and we can return to space by the end of the month." The glee on Hikowa's face was evident.

"Hell, the entire fleet could be upgraded within a year if the Quarians stick around for a while," Lovell said.

Truthfully, Keyes was starting to think this was a little too good to be true, though his new rank afforded him access to the truth of the origins of the Quarians. Reach was still in a state of controlled chaos as the military enforced strict martial law as they cleared the planet of the surviving Covenant invasion army. As a result, the civilian press wasn't fully organized and asking questions about their mysterious alien saviors. The UNSC had issued a statement saying that the Quarians came from a distant part of the galaxy, and that their home had been destroyed by a machine race known as the Geth; the Normandy and Commander Shepard were left out and effectively classified. What Keyes had learned since becoming an Admiral was that the Quarians really were exiled by the Geth, though it didn't happen in their galaxy as the Quarians and Shepard came from an alternate universe; the truth was kept on a strictly need to know basis. Realistically, he didn't know how long the Quarians would be staying in the system, but the fact that interdimentional travel was merely a theoretical concept at this point didn't bode well for their timely return. For the moment, the UNSC would get their desperately needed ally.

"Admiral, slipspace rupture detected near the L3 transfer buoy," Sendai chirped.

The holotank switched to a view of the space in question as an armada of ships exited slipspace, thankfully they were friendly. 70 ships of the home fleet had been selected to reinforce Reach and deliver emergency relief supplies and troops to the forces planet side. However traveling with them were over a hundred other ships, all civilian crewed either by military personnel or a nav AI. As part of the agreement with the Quarians, the UNSC had agreed to provide the Quarians with ships for their use. They had searched the growing bone yards of Sol for ex shipping and passenger ships that were abandoned as the UNSC economy shrank with the destruction of most of their colonies. This was merely the first of many deliveries they had promised to the Quarians as it provided a way to get rid of the surplus of civilian ships the UNSC had, and provided the Quarians with their number one need; living space.

"Do we know the rundown on our new battlegroup, sir?" Hikowa asked.

Admiral Keyes was in command of the entire Reach defense fleet, but would personally command a battle group of six ships with the _Autumn_ at its core, for a total of seven. All six of these ships were arriving with the reinforcements from Earth.

"From what I'm told its three frigates, and three destroyers," Keyes said. Now since the _Autumn's_ role is going to expand greatly, there need to be a few changes. Dominique, I'm promoting you to Lieutenant Commander and officially designating you XO."

The man was speechless, and Keyes couldn't blame him, thought the promotion was out of necessity. Major Silvia and his ODSTs were staying aboard for the time being, and that meant after Keyes, Major Silvia would be the next highest ranking officer. Promoting Dominique to Lieutenant Commander would match Silvia's rank of Major, and his official position as XO would allow him to overrule the ODST should he challenge Dominique's authority.

"I don't know what to say, sir," Dominique said.

"Just say yes, Commander," Keyes said. Now we need to start preparing this ship for flagship duties."

* * *

**Date: September 12, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- CASTLE base**

"The reinforcements arrived two hours ago and are already taking up assigned patrol patters in conjunction with the Quarians. Troop transports started landing at the New Alexandria spaceport thirty minutes ago and the Marine commanders say they could have the city pacified in as little as a week."

The newly reconstituted Reach HIGHCOM was in the middle of a daily briefing about the status of the battle on the ground. Despite the fact they were totally cut off, the Covenant on Reach continued to fight heavily against the UNSC with the biggest battle taking place in the occupied New Alexandria; a full 30 percent of the city had been razed in the fighting.

"I've spoken with army command, we could do it less time if we used DZ-5 on some of the heavy concentrations of Covenant."

The rather callous remark came from Brigadier General Nicoletta Case, the recently appointed Army representative on HIGHCOM. She had just suggested they use a nerve toxin on the Covenant forces, a weapon rarely used by the UNSC even during the Covenant war.

"I would like to remind the General that not only are our troops inside the city, but there are untold number of civilians who haven't evacuated," Captain Smith of ONI said.

"The potential of collateral damage is too high to even consider using chemical weapons, General," Whitcomb said to her. "We do this the old fashioned way."

"We could at least consider using the DZ-5 in the more remote regions to hit the isolated pockets of Covenant," Case suggested.

"General, WMDs are officially tabled from this discussion. We're trying to save Reach, not save it in a thousand pieces." Whitcomb was fairly certain that would shut her up for a while.

"Sir, I was merely pointing out the possibility of a speedy resolution..."

"General, the discussion is over. Captain Kirkland, please continue," Whitcomb ordered.

"Well, the early estimates are that we can have the least damaged vessels repaired and refitted with Quarian technology by the end of the month. On a whole, our people are getting along with the Quarians fairly well, especially those in the engineering departments working with them to repair our ships. The Quarians also submitted a repair request for the _Trafalgar_."

"The _Trafalgar_, are they serious?" The former UNSC super carrier was lying in two pieces above Reach's northern pole where the majority of the debris from the battle was being stored. The ship had been blown in two during the battle, and in a normal situation there would be no hope of ever making it space worthy; the most they could do was scrap it for parts.

No surprise that General Case uttered the first dissenting comment, "I recommend denying the request. We can't risk most of our technology and designs being studied by an outside force."

"The General does make a valid point," Smith said, "however a supercarrier is a very valuable ship. If we want to go ahead we'll just post extra security near some of our more sensitive technology; the risk is worth it if we can revive the _Trafalgar_ and upgrade it with Quarian technology."

"Kirkland, give them the go ahead," Whitcomb instructed the orbital director.

"Admiral, I would suggest we move on to the issue of this Shepard person and his ship," Case said. "I recommend we push for an investigation of his ship and their technologies for possible adaptation. The main weapon of _Normandy_ and whatever they used to cause two Covenant ships to decompress would be valuable."

"While a forced investigation is out of the question, General, I can satisfy you with this. Commander Shepard has graciously extended an invitation to tour his ship, and I have accepted," Whitcomb announced. "Anyone in this room is welcome to attend."

* * *

**Date: September 13, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- _Normandy_**

Shepard and Miranda stood at the _Normandy's_ airlock to welcome their guests. The frigate had docked at a small UNSC station that bore the unmistakable symbol of ONI at the request of HIGHCOM rather then simply shuttle to the _Normandy_. Admiral Whitcomb had informed Shepard that he was keeping the Normandy secret from the general population and most of the military in accordance with the cover story of the Quarian origins. While Shepard may not have liked being muzzled like this, he certainly understood that no one in their right mind would actually believe their real story.

"The seal is secure, I'm detecting 9 people in the decon chamber," EDI reported. "Standard decontamination sweep complete, opening inner door."

Shepard recognized Admirals Whitcomb and Keyes, along with Captain Kirkland and the scientist Dr Halsey from the HIGHCOM meeting. There was another high ranking military officer with them, a very stern looking woman; behind her stood four Marine bodyguards.

"Commander Shepard, I believe you know most everyone here. The woman behind me is General Nicoletta Case of the UNSC Army, a recent appointment to HIGHCOM."

"General, Admirals, welcome aboard the _Normandy_. This is my XO Miranda Lawson," Shepard made the proper instructions before leading the party to the CIC. The holographic representation of the _Normandy_ appeared with the critical systems highlighted in blue; Shepard choose to begin the tour there.

"The _Normandy_ is a stealth frigate originally built by the Systems Alliance, our equivalent of the UNSC," Shepard explained.

"I know, Commander, been studying up on your codex, its a very interesting read. Tell me, how was the original _Normandy_ lost?" Whitcomb asked.

"She was destroyed in a battle with a race known as the Collectors, this _Normandy_ was constructed by a private organization called Cerberus, the same one to which most of my crew and my XO belong," Shepard said.

"Why did the military not commission a new ship?" That came from General Case.

Miranda jumped in, all too willing to glorify Cerberus. "The Alliance didn't believe the collectors actually existed, they thought the _Normandy_ was simply destroyed by a Geth patrol that got the jump on them. Cerberus was the only organization that believed Shepard's claims, so we offered him our services and this ship."

"Gutsy move, going against the better judgment of your government and military," Case commented.

"The Alliance was willing to bury their heads in the sand when the evidence was right in their faces," Shepard retorted. "You read the codex, so you know about humanity getting a council seat, which is what the Alliance really desired. Even though Councilor Anderson supports my beliefs, the other three council members don't, stopping any chance for a formal investigation."

"I don't think Commander Shepard's past motivations and past investigations have any relevance here, Admiral Whitcomb stated. We owe you greatly for bringing the Quarians to our aid; if you ever find a way back to your universe we'd gladly support your efforts there."

"I appreciate the gesture, Admiral."

"Perhaps we should continue with the overview of the _Normandy_," Miranda suggested. "Maybe a rundown of our stealth systems."

"Yes, we didn't detect your ship until it was right on top of us," Keyes said, "do you use EM and thermal insulation like our prowlers?"

Miranda used one of the CIC consoles to narrate her explanation with the holographic _Normandy_. "Yes, though most of our ship hulls block EM, its heat and other radiation that are giveaways for any ship of our universe. _Normandy_ is equipped with a heat absorbent skin that's connected to a series of heat sinks in the hull. We store the heat until the sinks are maxed out, then we simply vent it, otherwise the heat buildup will melt the sinks and cook the interior."

"Impressive, if not dangerous with the heat drawbacks," Halsey said.

"Perhaps its time to take this tour around the ship, we can better explain the rest of the main systems," Shepard lead the group to the nearby armory hatch and led them inside. Jacob was standing on the far side of the room with a Covenant plasma rifle in his hands, a mannequin wearing a set of Cerberus assault armor was nearby.

"Commander," Jacob acknowledged. "You're just in time for the test."

With a nod from Shepard, Jacob activated his omni tool and synced it with the mannequin's armor. Tech armor formed around the mannequin, and Jacob opened fire with the Covenant weapon. The first bolt of plasma struck the tech shield, and was dissipated, though the tech armor began to flicker. When the second plasma bolt struck, the tech armor disappeared and the plasma hit the regular armor, melting the chest plate. The barrier generator located in the back of the armor exploded in a shower of sparks; the armor had been practically reduced to scrap.

"Did better than the last test," Jacob said as he entered the results onto his omni tool.

"What was that shield protecting the armor?" Doctor Halsey asked, "it looked like some kind of hologram."

"Technically it was" Jacob then started to explain the technology behind it using one of the monitors at his workstation. "Tech armor combines a secondary kinetic barrier generator and multiple holographic diodes. The diodes and the barrier work in conjunction to create a solid barrier of energy, capable of deflecting anything including plasma for however long the diodes and generators last. Since we don't have a lot of experience fighting with plasma based weapons, you can see even our most advanced tech isn't up to the job."

The group looked back at the mannequin and the totally destroyed armor, the plasma burned its way through to the fake skin.

"We're currently trying to find a way to modify our generators so the holomatrix that holds the kinetic barrier in shape can withstand the plasma, like the Covenant' energy shields." Jacob went on for a couple more minutes about his plans to modify tech armor, and then gave the group a quick tour of the rest of the armory. The Marine bodyguards couldn't resist looking at the array of special weapons Shepard had acquired and the Illusive Man had provided for him. The tour then moved on to the tech lab where Mordin was hard at work with yet another experiment of his. For the admirals, and Marines, this was their first time encountering a completely strange alien species.

"This is Professor Mordin Solus, our resident scientist," Shepard introduced.

"Ah, high ranking UNSC officers, pleasure to meet you," Mordin walked forward and gave Admiral Whitcomb his hand, which he shook. General Case politely declined, while Admiral Keyes didn't.

"You remind me of someone who's had a little too much coffee to drink," Doctor Halsey said as she shook the Salarian's hand.

"Human drink, tried it once, too bitter for taste buds, sub par caffeine content," Mordin fired off. "Salarian physiology resembles what you call 'jittery person'. Hyper materialism, only require four hours of sleep, understand you sleep for eight? Inefficient."

"That's exactly why we have coffee, Professor," Halsey retorted. "I'm curious, what are your areas of expertise?"

"Genetics, microbiology, exobiology, robotics." Mordin fired off.

"Admiral, if its alright with you I'd like to remain here," Halsey requested, "I imagine the Professor an I will have a to to talk about."

"Granted," Whitcomb said, "Commander, if you'd care to finish showing us your fine ship."

* * *

**Date: September 13, 2552 ][ Location: Ceti alpha system- Covenant station _Unyielding Hierophant_**

Thel 'Vadamee stood in the center of the temple, the largest structure inside the Covenant station. Arrayed like an amphitheater, Thel stood alone on the small circular stage, well technically not alone. In front of him were the three prophets of the Covenant; Truth, Regret, and Mercy via hologram. After submitting his report to the high council about his defeat at Reach, the prophets requested to speak with him personally, and likely to also deliver punishment for his failure.

"At which point I gave the order to retreat, the enemy outnumbered my remaining ships by a great margin." Thel finished his recounting with the sight of nearly the entire Fleet of Particular Justice being vaporized by the humans' new weapon. The prophets conversed among themselves for a moment, the audio on their holograms muted so Thel could not overhear. Truth's hologram moved forward and the audio was restored.

"Fleetmaster, you are one of our more decorated veterans in this war, and we find your actions were not heretical. You were wise in the face of overwhelming odds to retreat and warn the Covenant of this new threat posed by the humans and their new allies," Truth stated.

"Then I will continue my campaign against the humans," Thel declared.

Regret suddenly lunged forward at the Sangheili. "No, you still allowed your entire fleet to fall at the hands of the humans of all species! His hologram yelled. You are not fit to command one of our fleets in battle!"

Truth placed a hand over his colleague and pushed him back. "As I have said, you are not to be held responsible for the humans deceitful tactics and the unexpected arrival of the unknown aliens. And we also believe that we must strike back at the humans to test their strength as of now, however we believe that a change of tactics is in order."

One of the doors to the temple opened and another Sangheili walked down through the stands to the central stage.

"This is Shipmaster Tano'Inanraree, and with our blessing he will become Fleetmaster and lead the remaining ships moored at this station to a human colony our scouts recently discovered." Truth's words were extremely troubling to Thel. He knew who Inanraree was from the sect he belonged to; the Governors of Contrition. A radial group who believed all Forerunner creations were divine and sacred, and where the Covenant believed Forerunner relics needed to be studied to enrich their own divine wisdom, the governors thought that even disturbing them would be sacrilege. It was rumored that during a siege of a human colony, a ship commanded by a Contrition Governor had fired on and destroyed another Covenant ship that had glassed a human instillation over a Forerunner relic, destroying it in the process.

"Holy prophet, with all respect, is it wise to allow a member of a sect such as his command of an entire fleet for such an undertaking?" Thel asked.

"I have more wisdom then to allow a fleet to be obliterated by a primitive people," Tano scolded.

Thel clenched his fist, by all rights he should have struck the fundamentalist Sangheili, but while in the presence of the holy prophets, restraint was needed.

"We believe this human world to be rich in relics necessary for the great journey," Truth explained. "Because of the significance of your defeat, we believe a successful harvest of relics will be a boon to the sunken morale of all the Covenant. Certain care and skills will be required for the successful reclamation of these artifacts, something Tano'Inanraree has demonstrated."

"I understand, hierarch" Thel grudgingly said.

"Very good, you make take leave of us to oversee the repair of your ship. We will have an appropriate assignment forwarded to you once we are in a better position to further exterminate the humans," Truth said.

Thel promptly bowed.

**XXX**

The shuttle pilot noticed Thel's restrained anger the whole ride back to the Seeker of Truth, but Thel kept his composure all the way back to his private quarters. Once inside he swiftly struck a decorative shield that hung on the bulkhead walls. After looking at what he unrestrained anger had cause, he began collecting the pieces of the shattered decoration and piled them on a nearby table. The door chime went off and Thel allowed entry.

"What was the council's ruling?" A white armored Sangheili asked.

"I spoke not with the council, but with the hierarchs directly. I avoided branding as a heretic, but they instead choose to leave me without a command and to have a fleet commanded by a Contrition Governor strike back at the humans," Thel explained. "It is a personal humiliation to me, Rtas, that is my punishment for Reach."

Rtas 'Vadumee was a highly decorated special ops commander assigned to Thel's ship. Coming from the state of Vadum, which was a neighbor and staunch ally of Thel's state of Vadam, making him the only person Thel could call a friend on his ship.

"Surely your contacts on the High Council can raise objections over the appointment of a Contrition Governor as Fleetmaster?"

Thel shook his head, "the edict came directly from the hierarchs, the high council would be stalled trying to reverse the decision. I fear it will take another defeat we can ill afford to have before the prophets realize this error."

"And more ships and troops will be lost before the council realizes," Rtas grimly noted. "What do you suggest we do?"

"You assume I have a plan?"

"You would not have made it as far as you have in the military by being unprepared for even the most gravest of circumstances," Rtas said.

"I have a thought, but it would require risking our careers and quite possibly the ship to avert disaster," Thel said. "Prepare your men, as soon as repairs are complete we will take the _Seeker_ to this colony, and avert a potential disaster."

* * *

**Date: September 13, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- _Normandy_**

"I must say, Commander, this is one mighty fine ship."

Admiral Whitcomb, Admiral Keyes and Commander Shepard were enjoying a meal in the mess thrown together with the best of what Sergeant Gardner had of the gourmet rations. General Case had politely declined Shepard's offer and left the ship as soon as the tour was concluded. Doctor Halsey was still in the tech lab trading notes with Professor Solus.

"She may not be the original _Normandy_, but this ship is a worthy replacement," Shepard replied.

"Commander, there's something I've been meaning to discuss with you. Over the past few weeks we've been been strengthening our alliance with the Quarians, but aside from this tour I feel like we're neglecting you," Whitcomb explained. "We were hoping to rectify this with further cooperation between the UNSC and the _Normandy_."

"Admiral, its not that we're trying to be unfriendly. Its just that I'm trying to keep the crew's spirits up, I still intend to take the _Normandy_ back to our universe and confront the collectors. I don't want to give them the impression that we're settling here permanently."

"I understand completely, and what I have in mind is a small measure of cooperation and will be entirely temporary, and subject to your approval."

"What exactly is that, Admiral?"

"An exchange program, personnel only, and will go one way unless you decide to station one or more of your officers with us as well," Whitcomb said.

"And who gets to pick?" Shepard asked.

"I was hoping to leave that up to Admiral Keyes here," Whitcomb said as he looked over at the unwitting Admiral who hadn't known this was coming at all.

* * *

**Date: September 13, 2552 ][ Location: Cygnus system- New Jerusalem**

New Jerusalem was a fairly large inner colony world that was among the first dozen founded by the initial colonization boom. Jewish politicians from the crumbling Israel bloc wanted to find a true Jewish homeland that would be free from any prior ethnic or religious claims, so had contributed what was left of the bloc's finances and economic capital to securing colonization rights and a colony ship. Within a generation the colony was flourishing with an influx of Jewish and non colonists after the discovery of rich gold and platinum deposits. Before the war, it had been a growing financial center of the entire inner colonies, but with the UNSC takeover the government and slow transition to command economy style practices for war material production, it was one of the last free capitalism markets with a civilian governor as opposed to a military one most of the colonies now sported. In orbit sat a defense picket of seven UNSC warships, down from the ten after three had been pulled to reinforce Sigma Octanus.

From slipspace came 35 Covenant warships, all the hierarchs were willing to expend at this point if the humans had fortified this system as well. One of the RSOs had detected their approach and the ships in orbit had mounted a token defense in the form of a small nuclear minefield. That and a coordinated MAC strike had given them three kills, however once the Covenant entered weapons range it was all over. The commander of that small task force had ordered every armory emptied and every Marine to muster to the surface to take part in the defense of the planet before being wiped out. The remaining Covenant ships pushed through the debris field of the defenders and into orbit, launching an invasion force to the surface.

New Jerusalem was under siege.

* * *

Phew, sorry it took so long to get an update out to you guys, school work and tests have been a bitch over these past couple months. However I'm done with college for the year and will have plenty of time to get back to writing this story. Anyway, I'm already starting my summer job so that may interfere with updates from time to time. I will however do my best to get another chapter up at least before the end of this month.

Read and review.

Oh and we got that SOB bin Laden. BOOM, head shot!


	8. Retribution

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 8: Retribution **

**Date: September 14, 2552 ][Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_ **

Admiral Keyes exited the elevator onto deck 15 and nearly ran headlong into a trio of Spartans walking down the hall to the Spartan armory. For the past several weeks, the Spartans had been using the Autumn as a base to operate from, engaging the remaining Covenant forces still on Reach. With the fact most of their equipment was onboard for the aborted operation RED FLAG, and the extensive damage to the RMR, the _Autumn_ was the only logical place left for them. Keyes followed the three Spartans back to their main armory, inside were a half dozen other Spartans, engaged in all manner of activity, from weapon maintenance to sparing on a mat in the back corner. As he entered the room, Keyes recalled why he was coming down here to select a Spartan of all people for the exchange program.

"_Wouldn't you or one of your adjuncts be better suited for this?" Shepard asked._

"_To be honest, there is a good chance that if I hand the selection process to someone under my immediate command, a member of ONI may be assigned to spy on you." Whitcomb admitted._

_Shepard immediately went on the defensive, "I thought we've proven to you that we're allies?"_

"_ONI is an organization with its own secretive mandates. The old civilian government gave it a long leash to deal with the growing insurrection, and when the military took over it seemed to grow," Whitcomb explained. "While I'm content with the level of technology being shared between us, ONI probably doesn't, and if they had the authority they'd commandeer your ship and crew it themselves."_

"_That doesn't explain why I should be in charge of the selection," Keyes interjected._

"_Because Keyes you're outside of the general chain of command, and a recent appointment. ONI won't have enough time to put their people aboard his ship and in positions he might consider for an exchange program." Whitcomb turned back to Shepard, "you've met General Case, and I can almost guarantee you she's in bed with ONI on this. And I'm sure you wouldn't want someone like her on your ship. I trust Admiral Keyes to put trustworthy people under your command."_

And so Keyes was here as the Master Chief had his people come to and salute, coming to pick possibly one of the most trustworthy soldiers he had on board. It was a risk, since the Spartans were a product of ONI, and were notoriously loyal to their superiors; Keyes was hoping he could actually count on that.

"Admiral," The Chief acknowledged.

"At ease, I need to speak with you," Master Chief.

The Chief nodded and put his men at ease, then walked with the Admiral to the far corner of the room.

"Chief, I need your help for a potentially important mission," Keyes started off. "I've been put in charge of assembling some people for an exchange program with Commander Shepard. We're going to assign a few people to the _Normandy_ under his command, since his ship seems to specialize in ground combat specialists I'd like a Spartan for the post."

"Were you thinking of me, sir?" The Chief asked.

"No, I realize your position as commander of the Spartans. I thought you'd be most appropriate to select a Spartan for the job."

The Chief was used to assigning Spartans to other assignments, but with the loss of four of their own during the fighting on Reach they needed every Spartan they could get. John looked over the room of Spartans present; four were currently deployed on Reach cleaning up Covenant.

"There's one more thing, chief, I need you to personally guarantee me this Spartan's loyalty," Keyes lowered his voice, "especially when it comes to any orders involving spying that may come from ONI; I can't allow that."

Despite all his extensive training and mental conditioning, The Chief understood the Admiral's request. ONI had been involved in a lot of shifty operations, some of them involved The Chief and his Spartans. Doctor Halsey had even cautioned John many years ago on how ONI worked. So while he was loyal to a superior officer, even if it was an ONI, he would be willing to go along with the Admiral's request, and keep it quiet. That would mean he'd need a Spartan he could personally count on, someone from blue team.

Blue team was a squad that worked extremely well together, complementing each other with their individual skills. Kelly was fast and agile, a tactic that benefited the Spartans as a whole and was too valuable to loose. Fred had skills in all fields of combat, and had worked with the _Normandy_ crew before, but his position as second in command was also a necessity. From what he had been told, whoever went over to the Normandy would essentially be on their own, someone who could take care of themselves; a lone wolf. And only one Spartan fit that bill, along with the unique skills that the _Normandy_ team each seemed to posses.

"Linda, I need you over here," John said over the squad COM.

She was sitting across the room, sniper rifle arrayed on the floor in front of her as she performed her meticulous maintenance on it. Linda set the rifle, down stood up and walked over to The Chief, saluting Admiral Keyes once more.

"Spartan, I need you for a potentially important mission of goodwill," Keyes started. "Command has authorized an exchange program with the _Normandy_, and I'd like to appoint you and one other to that position."

"Admiral, I'm not an officer, nor do I have the training to be some kind of liaison," Linda pointed out.

"Shepard's ship mainly has combat specialists such as yourself, all you'd be doing would be augmenting their ranks, as a sign of good faith from us," Keyes explained. "I'm not looking for an actual liaison officer."

"Sounds like a better arrangement," The Chief could hear actual intrigue in her voice. "I'm in. Who's the second person you mentioned?"

"Some who also has the skills for Shepard's little militia," Keyes noted.

* * *

**Date: September 14, 2552 ][Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- Quarian ship_ Rayya _**

The four admirals of the admiralty board took their seats in the small conference room which had served as the meeting chamber for the board since the original exodus. It was spartan, and cramped, keeping with the Quarian tradition of space conservation aboard their ships. The room did however offer a view of the outside space. Admiral Raan, who was technically the chairwoman of the board for the next three months before Rael'Zorah was scheduled to hold the chair position.

"This meeting is called to order," Raan started. "The first item on our agenda is the recent addition of ships into the flotilla, courtesy of our new human allies."

"I must say, they're much more receptive than the humans of our own galaxy," Admiral Koris.

Indeed, they've given us unlimited access to the natural resources in this system and have agreed to provide us with medicines that are sorely needed," Gerrel said. "Its a lot more than the Systems Alliance ever gave us."

Admiral Gerrel remembered first contact with the Systems Alliance well. After receiving reports from Quarians out on pilgrimage that a new species had been thrust onto the galactic stage after a brief war with the Turians, the Quarians moved quickly to broker information on an alliance outpost to make contact. However it took some time as human colonies were through completely unknown mass relays, and by the time a scout ship made contact with an Alliance patrol the humans had been associate members of the citadel for a couple months; more than enough time for the council and the other races to spread their Quarian stereotypes to the Alliance. The scout returned with a warning that the Migrant Fleet was not allowed to enter any Alliance claimed system if their intent was to strip mine it, otherwise they would be welcome at any Alliance port or colony for normal trade. The Quarians had lost their only real chance for a friendly ally in the humans, but now it was like they had been given a second chance.

"May I remind everyone that these humans are only interested in our technology," Admiral Xen interjected. "It is the most advanced they've encountered, barring the aliens they're at war with."

"Have we gotten anywhere in our study of the Covenant ship, Admiral Xen?" Gerrel asked.

Unfortunately the most intact wreck the humans gave us was simply too badly damaged internally, however one intact plasma turret and most of the hull plating survived; the plating yielding the most results of study." Xen was secretly disappointed at not recovering any Covenant computer technology, and being denied access to UNSC AI technology thanks to a majority vote of the admiralty board.

"There's also been some talks of a joint mission among the warship captains," Admiral Gerrel said.

Koris immediately interjected. "We already assist in the patrol of this star system, mostly for own own benefit. Getting involved further in their war will further jeopardize the flotilla and could deplete our forces."

Raan silently noted that old viewpoints and tendencies had surfaced in this new universe. Xen was presented with a whole new AI race, and Koris was favoring isolationism and the abandonment of their new allies. Gerrel was the opposite and favored full military relations with the UNSC; the fact they were also under a semi military dictatorship like the Quarians made relations very smooth. Frankly, Raan was on Gerrel's side, they needed the UNSC as much as the UNSC needed the flotilla. With Xen and Koris' opposing views to an alliance with the UNSC and AI technology, Raan and Gerrel could keep the alliance with a majority vote. However even she knew they would come across a situation that would loose them either Xen or Koris' vote, deadlocking the board; soon they would be forced to pick a new Admiral anyway.

"Perhaps we should return to our original topic of discussion. As soon as the UNSC ships we were given are retrofitted we will need to distribute them to the various clans based on need," Raan was hoping she could at least reduce the bickering in this board meeting.

* * *

**Date: September 14, 2552 ][Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- _Normandy _**

"Shepard, you wished to be notified when docking procedures would be completed?"

EDI's warning woke Shepard from his sleep, not expecting to have docked for another couple hours. Sitting up on his bed, Shepard looked down at one of the few glowing red scars remaining on his body, the last remnants of the extensive operation to bring him back to life. Chakwas had prescribed several medications to help stimulate skin growth to finally cover up the scars. He popped open the container and swallowed the prescribed three, and then proceeded to get dressed.

The CIC was sparsely manned as the night shift wouldn't be getting off for another hour, and Shepard wasn't expecting that many crew to show up on time for the day shift either. It had only been a few weeks since they had been stranded in the alternate universe, but it was starting to take its toll on the crew. Crewman Roloston was talking about his family, who thankfully had been evacuated to Earth shortly before they were stranded; he missed the regular contact. Not even Sergeant Gardner's meals seemed to brighten the crew's spirits, not with the thought that everything they fought for over the past few months might go to waste every second the collectors were still around. Miranda and Jacob were waiting by the airlock, neither looking like the situation was getting to them, but Shepard knew better after knowing the pair for months.

"Rough night?" Miranda asked.

Shepard sighed and ran his hands over his face, "EDI woke me a little earlier then I thought she would."

"Well the UNSC wanted to transfer their people over immediately, sounded like something big was going on." Jacob commented, having been on duty when the COM call came in.

"We have a hard seal with the transport ship, decon is detecting two people in the airlock one of whom is a Spartan." EDI reported. "Opening inner door."

"… so I just took a crate of the squid's own grenades and tossed 'em right at their retreating asses!"

That comment came from the dark skinned Marine accompanying the Spartan onto the _Normandy_. He carried a duffel bag while the Spartan hefted two duffels and a backpack. They set their belongings down and saluted Shepard.

"Sir, Spartan-058, Petty Officer Second Class Linda, reporting for duty."

"Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson, UNSC Marine Corps, also reporting for duty."

"I'm Commander Shepard, welcome aboard the _Normandy_. I'm afraid you may not see a lot of action aboard, but we'll do our best to integrate you into our crew."

"Much obliged, sir. So where's the crew quarters?" Johnson asked.

"The crew quarters are located on the crew deck, one level below." EDI stated.

"Commander, if possible I would prefer somewhere more out of the way," Linda stated. "I like to keep my rifle skills sharp as well. I don't suppose there's a firing range onboard?"

EDI materialized on the holopad on the opposite wall, "the shuttlebay has sufficient range for the testing of weapons, and the storage room off of the shuttlebay could be converted into a sleeping area, albeit confined."

"Good enough for me, can I stow my gear in your armory?"

"I'll show you," Jacob said as he lead the Spartan down through the CIC and to the armory. The crew looked up from their stations at the green behemoth, having only heard about them from the shore party. Miranda returned to her CIC station leaving Shepard to escort the Sergeant down.

"Follow me Sergeant," Shepard said to Johnson who led the Marine to the elevator. "I can understand the Spartan, but why did Keyes pick you?"

"Me and my squad got our asses pulled outta a jam by the Spartans and brought to the _Autumn_, there wasn't an opening for a Sergeant Major on the Marine contingent. My men fit in just fine, but I've been twiddling my thumbs waiting for an assignment ground side, Keyes thought this would be the best use of my skills. You were probably expecting an ONI spook, right?"

"The thought had crossed my mind. Or you could very well be one yourself," Shepard said jokingly.

"Haha, well I hate the spooks just as much as any Marine. The one on the _Autumn_, little boy scout by the name of Haverson tried to lobby Keyes to go instead of me, right up until our pelican lifted off."

"I take it you've run into these spooks a few times?" Shepard asked as the elevator moved down to the crew deck.

"Been involved in my fare share of black ops, nothing I can talk about unless I'd prefer being tossed into some basement on an asteroid base," Johnson said.

The elevator let them out on the crew deck, which was barren with most of the crew asleep, that would change with the day shift in an hour. Sergeant Gardner was already preparing breakfast, and Johnson insisted on hitting the mess before settling in.

"I haven't seen fresh eggs on a military ship since my deployment to Jericho," the Sergeant commented as Gardner gave him a helping of scrambled eggs.

"Well thankfully the Commander appreciates a finely cooked meal, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten me a gourmet ingredients subscription; we get provisioned every time we make port. Not anymore unfortunately, I know the crew is gonna have my head when we switch back to the standard rations."

"Better food just hasn't been on my list of priorities when dealing with the UNSC, but I'll see what I can do," Shepard said as the Mess Sergeant fixed him a plate as well.

"Shepard, I have a priority transmission from UNSC high command, Admiral Whitcomb wishes to speak with you."

EDI's interruption forced Shepard to hand his plate back to Gardner and headed back up to the CIC. Once there he stood at his podium overlooking the galaxy map and activated the COM system. Since their stranding, the map had merely displayed an image of the Epsilon Eridani system, being unable to link to the mass relay network for a proper map. Admiral Whitcomb's image soon replaced that of the solar system, the look on his face wasn't good.

"_Commander, a scout ship just arrived from one of our remaining colonies, New Jerusalem, its under Covenant attack. I've ordered Admiral Keyes to take a fleet to retake the colony, and Admiral Gerrel has agreed to lead his wing as well as give us a tow. I would appreciate if you would go with them, the Normandy is a valuable asset."_

"I'll muster my crew and join the attack fleet immediately, Admiral," Shepard replied.

"_Thank you, Commander."_

Shepard immediately switched over to ship wide intercom, "attention all hands, a UNSC colony is under attack and we're joining the fleet heading to stop them. I'm declaring general quarters and ordering all hands to prepare the ship for battle."

* * *

**Date: September 14, 2552 ][Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- UNSC _Pillar of Autumn _**

The massive cruiser was at action stations the moment Keyes got off with HIGHCOM. The _Autumn_ was still docked in a docking cradle for the refit, but thankfully major work hadn't been started which meant the yard crews only had to vacate and cut all the umbilicals to the ship. Commander Purdy and the Quarian engineer, Zial'Sero vas I0denna, were waiting for the Admiral in the ops center.

"What I need to know from the two of you is if this ship is combat ready, and how many of our enhancements will be working by the time we get to New Jerusalem?"

The two engineers looked at each other before giving the Admiral the good news first.

"We can have the sublight engines online in a couple hours, and most of the new heat sink components for the MAC have been installed and are awaiting testing. Half of the disruptor torpedo banks have also been installed," Purdy listed.

Zial then gave Keyes the bad news, "the FTL drive is nowhere near ready, neither is the Mass Effect core so no barriers either. Your original FTL engine is also down and can't be made ready in time."

"FTL doesn't concern me, we're getting a lift anyway," Keyes said. "The Mass Effect core can drastically improve our speed and maneuverability, is there any way you can make it operational?"

"Its possible, but unlikely I can make the ME core operational for any length of time," Zial said.

"Prioritize the MAC, the core second. See if we can also get a few more disruptor torpedo pods slagged to the hull," Keyes ordered.

The two engineers nodded and quickly left for engineering to complete their work. Keyes went forward to the helm pit where the new viewscreen was displaying a feed from dorsal camera three; a Quarian vessel was maneuvering in close. The ship fired several magnetic grapples onto the _Autumn's_ hull, attached to wires, the ship reeled itself towards the _Autumn_ and grabbed onto the hull with magnetic clamps built into its ventral.

"We have a hard seal with the tug ship, sir," Ensign Lovell reported.

34 other UNSC ships were also being attached to Quarian tugs of various configurations. The tug ships were designed to tow ships of the flotilla that were either incapable of FTL or were having engine trouble. 4 other UNSC ships had their Mass Effect FTL drives installed already and would be making the trip under their own power, along with 25 Quarian warships under Admiral Gerrel; plus the _Normandy_.

"Docking procedures across the fleet will be completed within the hour, sir," Dominique reported from his station.

"Very good," Keyes replied as he settled into his newly installed captain's chair, which replaced the flimsy one that folded out from the wall. The tactical display in front of him gave the rundown on their fleet, including their last minute addition; UNSC _Say My Name_. She was Marathon class Marine assault conversion, the successor to the Phoenix class assault ships which were used as a temporary ship as the K2 class were retried. Most of the Archer pods and the large MAC were removed with cargo bays and barracks for several thousand Marines. She had limited offensive capability with her smaller MAC and remaining Archer pods, but was equipped with ballistic missile tubes for orbital strikes. Cargo pods could ferry firebases to the surface, and fabrication centers could keep an entire surface battalion supplied for up to 120 days. 3000 Marines and another 1500 helljumpers were loaded onboard to relieve the besieged forces on New Jerusalem. Keyes could only hope they would arrive in time to prevent the planet being turned to glass.

* * *

**Date: September 14, 2552 ][Location: FTL speed- _Normandy_**

Linda looked out one of the armory's windows at the blue energy pulses of the Mass Effect field as they arced over the hull, beyond it was the streaks of stars as they passed by. It wasn't possible to see the other ships of the fleet as all the ships were outside the visual spectrum, but they were there. It was a lot better view then the eternal darkness of slipspace, the thought that you might become lost in the currents and eddies of the alternate realm. With Mass Effect FTL, you never left normal space and knew exactly where you were. It was a strange experience for Linda, but considering they were going faster then any UNSC ship, and would arrive in 18 hours, it was an experience she could learn to live with.

"I haven't seen a chem powered weapon outside of museums," Jacob commented as he looked over Linda's disassembled sniper rifle splayed out on the table next to the weapons locker.

"Some of the other members of my team said you don't use gunpowder or chemical charges for your ammo anymore. That your Mass Effect technology allows your gun to shape a projectile and propel it."

"I see they briefed you well before coming aboard," Jacob complemented.

Linda nodded, "Your basic codex was required reading for the Spartans after the battle. If we ever want to adapt this technology for use in our own weapons it'll help to understand them. Personally it all seems too high maintenance, and reliant on too much high tech."

"The first ME based weapons had their problems, and they were rarely used outside of special forces groups. During the First Contact war on Shanxi, some of the militia were still using old gunpowder weapons. It wasn't until humanity joined the council that we got access to weapon tech that had been honed over a couple thousand years."

"Your first war with aliens lasted less than a month, and now you're practically subservient to the Covenant of your universe from what I've read. Sounds like what would have happened to us if we had just surrendered right after Harvest," Linda replied. "If the Covenant even believed in surrender."

"I wouldn't go so far as to compare them to the Covenant," Jacob pointed out. "The Asari and Salarians stepped in and brokered a peace before either side could fully mobilize and counter attack, and as a member of the Council the Turians were obligated to comply. Then the Council turns right around and offers us membership, we really weren't in a position to just stick our heads in the sand and go isolationist. The galaxy wasn't our for the taking, we had to learn to coexist."

"Obviously it hasn't always been easy for you," Linda stated.

Jacob pulled up and chair and sat down, "it hasn't, I've seen first hand during the anti piracy ops. Species like the Batarians and groups like the Blood Pack don't care who they raid as long as they have valuable cargo, and humanity hasn't exactly welcomed them with peace dialogues in exchange." Jacob leaned back and chuckled to himself for a moment; "Its funny, some of the same kinds of traits found in humans are also found in aliens. The galaxy may not have been what we thought, but everyone in it is more alike then you'd imagine."

"That's a pretty philosophical outlook for an armory tech," Linda said.

"I've been around a lot, seen some things that have changed my outlook. And I haven't always been an armory tech, I even played shock trooper like you a couple times."

"So this posting is a demotion I take it?"

"Far from it, I'm getting the job done and not being held back by Alliance regs. I couldn't feel like I was actually accomplishing something when I was an alliance soldier, Cerberus gave me this feeling that I was actually doing something to help, and I wasn't being held back."

"I've felt I always had a purpose, ever since training we were all told we were important for humanity." Even with the helmet and the armor Jacob found it hard to believe there was a person under there.

Jacob got out of the chair and stood up, "I think we'd better get back on track, we still have to orient you to our weapons and equipment."

"I thought I made it clear that I prefer my own weapons," Linda's tone was almost joking in nature.

Jacob activated his omni tool and scanned Linda's rifle components, then transferred them to his workstation. Accessing the room's holographic projectors, he made a 3D render appear in the middle of the room of the rifle and commanded the computer to assemble it into its proper configuration.

"If you're so adamant about sticking to you own stuff, then there's no reason we can't augment your gear with some of our tech, like we've been doing to your ships."

Linda was staring at Jacob's still active omni tool, "looks much more advanced then our standard arm mounted tacpads."

Jacob couldn't resist a chuckle, "still want to use just your stuff?"

**XXX**

_A fleet of reapers were heading for a mass relay._

_An image of his N7 helmet surrounded by strewn debris from the Normandy._

_A reaper laying waste to the presidium on the citadel. Entire worlds falling against them._

_Ashley, Liara, the Illusive Man, Wrex, all standing on a balcony as a Reaper descends before them._

_Tali turns to him before her mask and face underneath it disintegrate into an unholy slime._

"_Why didn't you save us?"_

Shepard shot up in bead, covered in sweat. Relieved that it was only a dream, he lied back down on the bed and breathed for a moment. The dream had been so vivid, and made Shepard think if time passed just as equally in this universe as it did in their own. EDI had given him a lecture on the various theories of parallel universes, and surmised that time was probably passing equally in both universes. How they came to be in 2552 instead of 2185 either had to do with the passageway they traveled through, or this universe was created exactly 371 years earlier then their own; making the year technically 2185. but if they managed to get back, and the earlier creation theory wasn't the case, what would they find in 2552 in their own galaxy? A prosperous civilization that defeated the reapers on their own, or one still in the throws of total genocide by the reapers?

"Shepard, we are about to drop out of FTL and into Cygnus system shortly," EDI informed him. "Your orders?"

Assemble the team in the briefing room as soon as we come out, I'll get a situation assessment from Admiral Keyes before we decide what to do. With that, Shepard got out of bed and began removing his various armor parts from his locker.

_Why was it Tali that I saw being killed?_ Shepard wondered.

* * *

**Date: September 15, 2552 ][ Location: Cygnus system, dark side of Cygnus IV-B**

New Jerusalem's moon was actually a dead planetoid almost half the size of the world it orbited, captured by New Jerusalem's gravity about a billion years ago. Hidden along the dark side was a sole UNSC corvette that was on outer system patrol when the Covenant struck. It had witnessed a small picket fleet from Tantalus arrive and try and engage the Covenant before dropping off fresh ground troops, but they had sustained heavy losses and were on the far side of the planet covering the evac ships. Curiously, the Covenant fleet was just holding position over one city in particular, and they hadn't seemed like they were going to glass the planet. There was no word on if Reach was sending a fleet, if it was even still there as there had been rumors that it had been destroyed by the Covenant, and one that it had been miraculously saved by another alien fleet.

"Captain, we've got silhouettes approaching, maybe ships."

"Get us up to combat alert and stand by to make a run," the Captain said.

The already fatigued and frightened crew manned their battlestations as the corvette's meager weaponry was brought to bear against the approaching ships.

"I'm getting a coded signal... on thank god its UNSC, declaring the incoming ships friendly."

The Captain was relieved as he ordered his crew to stand down, but maintain alert. As the friendly fleet approached, they saw many strange ships flying in formation, giving credence to at least one of the Reach rumors.

"_This is Admiral Keyes of the Pillar of Autumn, what's the situation?"_

"Well sir, the Covenant showed up a couple days ago and smashed the orbital picket, they've got troops on the ground and evacs are already underway. The 26th Marine Expeditionary Force and their escort fleet entered orbit yesterday and most of the fighting is in and around Mount Haven."

"_Sounds unusual for the Covenant, if they've been in orbit for several days why not just glass the planet already?"_

"Beats me, but there's more sir, groundside command reports that the Covenant are digging in the ground for something. And one of the places they're planning to dig is a major problem."

**XXX**

Shepard strode into the briefing room to find the team plus their two newest additions were standing around the table.

"Admiral Keyes has just contacted me with an assignment for _Normandy_," Shepard activated the holotable and brought up an image of the planet. "There's a city called Mount Haven where the Covenant are focusing their efforts, but it looks like they're conducting some kind of dig for something buried under there. Only problem is they're planning to dig somewhere that will pose a problem for everyone."

He zoomed in and highlighted an industrial facility west of the city; "this is a nuclear waste disposal facility. Spent fuel, reactor rods, even decommissioned nuclear weapons are stored here, all highly radioactive. According to intelligence the UNSC gave us, the Covenant use high powered plasma beams as drilling equipment, now there are three of them poised to drill straight through the main storage rooms underneath the facility. The prevailing winds will blow the radiation straight at Mount Haven and the UNSC forces. A small team may be able to infiltrate and destroy the drills before the Covenant can activate them."

"What's _Normandy_ supposed to do?" Miranda asked

"Miranda, you'll keep the ship in the upper atmosphere in case we need close fire support. Otherwise you'll be in a position to assist the UNSC fleet if needed. Jacob, Tali, Kasumi, Garrus, Legion, Samara, and our two newest members Linda and Johnson are with me. Everyone else will remain aboard and use the second shuttle if needed."

"I've been working on a way to try and strengthen our barriers against Covenant weapons," Jacob interjected. "I've come up with a modulation that will mimic the CBT configuration, but this is only a quick fix, any armor barrier generator or barrier belt will burn out after just one hit."

"Is there any way to improve that?" Shepard asked.

"No, the generators just can't handle the strain of running the CBT program and the recharge capacitors," Jacob said. "I'm still working on a more permanent solution using tech armor, but I'm not getting anywhere fast."

"We're just going to have to be cautious, especially for those not wearing armor," Shepard said. "My team, gear up and get to the hangar bay in 10 minutes. Dismissed."

**XXX**

"Admiral, both groups are in position," Sendai reported.

"Thank you, you may give them the go ahead."

Keyes' plan was to split their fleet in two and attack in two groups, each moving over the poles of the moon and straight at the Covenant fleet. While some ships carried Quarian upgrades, others didn't which made it a more or less even fight. There plan however wasn't to defeat the Covenant head on, it was to distract them. Both the _Normandy_ and _Say My Name_ would be traveling in higher arc over both parts of the fleet, and when the Covenant's back was turned both ships would slip into orbit and carry out their missions.

The 35 Covenant ships detected their approach and began moving to intercept them. Both attack groups came to a dead stop, all the helmsmen and nav AIs were poised to fire emergency thrusters so the ships could turn tail and run as soon as they finished the strike. Keyes had left most of his ships on the dark side of the moon, and divided the other half into the two groups getting the Covenant's attention.

"Fire MAC on target sierra-3, followed by disruptor torpedoes on sierra-7," Keyes ordered from the ops center. Up on the bridge proper, Commander Dominique issued the orders for the _Autumn_ while the remaining ships captains did the same. The other group of mostly Quarian ships under Gerrel launched their salvo and began their retreat.

Four MAC slugs left the Autumn in the span of several seconds, each impacting dead center on the prow of a Covenant heavy cruiser. The first three slugs weakened the shields to the point the fourth broke through and smashed the forward half of the vessel, effectively crippling it. The damaged cruiser fell out of formation just as its companion ship, designated sierra-7 was hit by the _Autumn_'s disruptor torpedoes. The shock waves of dark energy ripped at the Covenant shields until they gave and tore up the hull, though because Quarian DTs were less potent then the _Normandy_'s the Covenant ship wasn't as badly damaged. Never the less, it cut its engines and held back.

Gerrel had success with a further three ships disabled as his battle group retreated towards the moon. The UNSC force fired their thrusters and came about, also heading for the RV point where they hoped to lure he Covenant into an ambush. So far the Covenant were falling for it and gave chase.

Keyes turned to the AI pad and issued new orders. "Signal_ Normandy _and _Say My Name;_ the back door is open."

**XXX**

Garrus had volunteered to be pilot on this mission and was already in the cockpit when Shepard arrived. Tali, Kasumi, Legion and Samara were already seated when Jacob showed up, carrying a demolition pack loaded with charges. Linda the Spartan also boarded, carrying a UNSC sniper rifle that Shepard could have sworn had a heat sink installed. Johnson was also heavily armed, having pilfered Normandy's armory for a missile launcher and a reverent light machine gun.

"_Shepard, Keyes has cleared the Covenant fleet from orbit and we're heading in_," Miranda called from the bridge.

"Understood," he replied as he went up into the cockpit. "Garrus, punch it."

The Turian complied and remotely decompressed the bay and opened the outer door. The shuttle glided gracefully from the _Normandy_ and arched down toward the planet below.

* * *

Well, I'm once again sorry for yet another delay, life does take priority over fan fiction. Can't make any promises on when I can get another chapter up, but my muse has been good these past couple days so I'll do my best. Anyway, I hope you all like the selection I made for new additions to the Normandy's crew. I figured Sergeant Johnson would fit in because he's Sergeant Johnson, nuff said. And if you look at the Normandy's roster, they can never seem to have enough snipers so Linda was the obvious choice. I know some of you would rather prefer the Master Chief, but there are just too many fics out there that have The Chief on the squad and that whole concept just seems overused at this point.

Also, has anyone noticed a sudden rash increase of completely absurd Halo crossover fics? I've been seeing a lot of Halo/Rio and Halo/My Little Pony showing up, makes me almost wish there was a feedback system that would delete a fic if it got too many negative stars or reviews. But such a system has the potential for abuse, and its not a good idea.


	9. Dark side of the moon

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 9: Dark side of the Moon**

**Date: September 15, 2552 ][ Location: Cygnus system/New Jerusalem orbit- Covenant flagship _Incorruptible _**

Fleet Master Tano 'Inanraree gazed out of the holographic projection that made up the bridge viewport, at the human planet below. Strategic glassing at cities that did not contain Forerunner relics had broken most of the human resistance. Inanraree knew that a small fleet of human ships was on the other side of the planet, but those ships had been damaged yesterday and were likely evacuating what remained of the human scum. His troops were already searching the areas of land that the luminary had identified contained holy relics and engaging the human forces in one of their nearby cities. As soon as they had recovered the relics 'Inanraree would order the glassing of the human population centers as punishment for settling on this holy world.

"Fleet master, we have intermittent contacts coming from the other side of this planet's satellite."

That report came from Inanraree's second in command and protege; Voro 'Mantakree. While not a member of the Governors of Contrition, Inanraree held great respect for his second and intended to recommend him for his own command within a cycle; he was one of the few non sect members Inanraree called a friend.

"Another human fleet approaches," Inanraree concluded. "Bring the fleet to alert, we will crush them with all our forces swiftly."

The Covenant fleet broke orbit and headed for the planet's moon as the UNSC and Quarian strike groups entered visual range. On the _Incorruptible_'s bridge, Inanraree relished the opportunity to defeat the humans and their new allies, and humiliate the incompetent Thel 'Vadamee.

Voro 'Mantakree looked at the tactical display. "The humans and their allies number few," he commented.

"Their numbers may be few, but their cunning is several fold as evidence by Vadamee's defeat," Inanraree said.

The two fleets closed to weapons range, and the UNSC/Quarian force opened fire first. Inanraree watched as seven of his ships were hit and disabled by only a handful of enemy ships that immediately headed for the moon. One of the damaged ships drifted away from the fleet and promptly broke apart from secondary explosions. Inanraree slammed his first on the railing in front of him.

"I will not fly into their trap!" he roared. "Order the fleet to come about as soon as the enemy leaves visual range. Have two ships continue the pursuit and bring the fleet back to the planet."

"We would be sending those crews to their deaths!" Mantakree protested.

"Do not question my orders, carry them out!"

Voro was taken aback by his friend's sudden change in behavior, but nonetheless carried out the fleet master's instructions.

* * *

**Date: September 15, 2552 ][ Location: Cygnus system/New Jerusalem- 10km south of Mount Haven**

"Incoming!" A Marine in one of the many trenches screamed as another plasma mortar from a nearby wraith slammed into their position.

"Do we have any anti tank rockets left?" Gunnery Sergeant Zane asked over the radio. The gunny was the highest ranking soldier left in his platoon after their Lieutenant was killed three hours ago in a Covenant assault on their position. They were pinned down on a highway that paralleled a river that flowed through Mount Haven and to the south, right near the Covenant's main dig site. Zane's platoon was ordered to build a forward CP as the rest of their company advanced toward the base on recon; they were wiped out by the very attack Zane's people now faced. Their CP was in flames behind them, along with the bodies of their Lieutenant and five other Marines.

"_Negative, sir, Ramirez had all the specials, they were wasted with him."_

Lance Corporal Ramirez was one of two Marines that had their platoon's SPNKr launchers, and had been one of their first casualties. Zane's platoon was down to nearly half strength, the only thing keeping them in their position was a pair of heavy machine gun nests on the highway and a couple of gunboats on the river parallel to them. If the Covenant decided to bring in air support, it was all over.

"Snipers, load any AP rounds left and hit their armor!" It was practically a token gesture, nothing short of an anti-material rifle could penetrate wraith armor. Shots rang out from the two surviving snipers from their positions on the remains of the highway. One of the snipers jerked back as a carbine round passed through his helmet, taking his head with it. The other sniper quickly finished off his clip and lost his nerve, sliding off of the concrete slap he was posted on shortly before a wraith mortar destroyed it. The sniper was thrown very close to Zane's position, so the gunnery Sergeant crawled through the rubble to his position. Pushing him over, Zane saw the blood and the slab of metal in his chest.

"Damn it!" He swore. Two men dead and they didn't even get the wraith. "Ok, Simmons, get on the horn to the FOB, tell them we're pulling back."

"I already have a transmission coming in from the forward operating base, sir. They say to keep our heads down!"

No sooner had the Marine relayed the words did a squadron of Shortsword bombers fly over their position and bomb the troublesome tank. Encouraged by this, the few gunboats on the river advanced and began spraying the surviving enemy troops with machine gun fire. From behind came a pair of Scorpion tanks that likewise attacked the now retreating Covenant force. Zane stood up for the first time in over an hour and surveyed the changing scene; reinforcements that he didn't know about were now pushing the Covenant advance force toward their dig site. A trio of cargo warthogs pulled up, loaded with ODSTs one of whom approached Zane.

"I'm Major Silvia, 9th ODST battalion, where's your CO?" The helljumper said.

"Dead sir, we're all that's left of D Company; I'm Gunnery Sergeant Zane. If you don't mind my asking, sir, where did you guys come from, I thought the Air Force was hammered and our armor was protecting the city?"

"We came down on the _Say My Name_, its in orbit along with a third of the Eridani fleet, we're kicking the Covenant out," Silva said with an air of confidence in his voice. "Liaise with my XO, we need to get this place up and running to support a counter offensive."

The Gunnery Sergeant stumbled through the debris to the former CP where Marine combat engineers had gotten the fire under control and were already inspecting the damages. Out front was a female Marine directing the efforts as warthogs unhitched their trailers of supplies.

"Ma'am, I was told to report to you," Zane said. She held up a finger as she finished her conversation over the radio.

"And tell them we don't have time to debate who takes point on this. Look, my orders come from my CO, ok? If he says you guys have to support our brigade, then you're supporting it." The Marine then pulled her helmet off and ran her hand across her short hair, which was starting to grow over the tattoos on the side of her scalp. "Sorry about that, I'm Lieutenant Melissa McKay."

"Gunnery Sergeant Zane, I guess I'm in charge of my platoon now."

"Alright, what we want you to do at this point is provide interior security for the base and get any wounded to the triage being set up about half a click up the road," McKay ordered. "The helljumpers will handle the hard work from here on, you guys deserve a break."

"Oorah to that, ma'am," Zane said.

"Get to it, gunny," McKay said as she put her helmet back on and ran over to a large section of highway that had just been cleared. She pulled a flare from her pants pocket and lit it, tossing it into the middle of the cleared area. A trio of Pelicans descended through cloud cover and came down quickly on the makeshift landing pad. From each of the Pelicans came a horde of Spartans; Zane had never seen them in combat before, just heard the usual tales.

"Lieutenant McKay," one of them said as he walked over to their position. "We're not exactly happy to be put in this position by Silvia."

"Yeah, well he outranks us both, chief. If it was up to me I'd let you guys take the lead; this is the hornet's nest we're about to stir up," McKay said.

Zane just stood there, practically speechless as he saw the ODST and Spartan verbally spar about their assignments. Even with the rather ludicrous scene in front of him, the gunny felt that the battle was starting to turn in their favor.

* * *

**Date: September 15, 2552 ][ Location: Cygnus system- dark side of Cygnus IV-B**

On the other side of New Alexandria's nameless moon sat the main UNSC/Quarian attack fleet, awaiting the return of the two wolf packs that would hopefully lure the Covenant fleet into their awaiting trap. A nuclear minefield was being set up near the northern pole of the planet, which Keyes and Gerrel were passing through on their way back. If the Covenant followed them exactly, they'd run right into it and hopefully with their ships damaged, the rest of the fleet would come up from the dark side of the moon and finish them. As soon as the two battlegroups passed the mines, the prowler that laid them switch the field on.

"Admiral, all fleet ships are orienting themselves to fire as soon as the Covenant enter range," Sendai reported as the fleet movement was put up on the tactical display fro Keyes to review.

"Very good," Keyes replied, "Lovell, its time to see what this Mass Effect core can do, bring us around."

"Aye, sir," the Ensign muttered from the helm pit as his board indicated the Mass Effect core was online and active. Under normal circumstances, a UNSC ship of their size would have to employ a complicated turning maneuver using their thrusters to bring the ship about that was time consuming. With the new Mass Effect core drastically reducing the ship's mass, they could now pull off a turn that would normally require the firing of nine emergency thrusters and the bracing of the entire crew.

"Executing turn," Lovell said as he turned both of the joysticks hard to the left, and the starscape on the holographic screen turned in response. The ensign, as well as Keyes and the rest of the crew were amazed as they felt barely anything as the inertial dampening system compensated for the high G turn. Within seconds the _Autumn_ was oriented to match the rest of the fleet.

"Alert the fleet to prepare for max acceleration as soon as the mines detonate," Keyes said

Sendai suddenly appeared on the holotank. "Captain, the _Gettysburg_ is patching in a feed from one of their Clarion spy drones."

On the main display in front of him, Keyes watched as only two Covenant ships came over the northern pole and into the minefield. He waited a few precious seconds to see if the rest of the fleet would follow; they didn't.

"Damn. Sendai, order all ships to engage those ships, and detonate any of the mines closest to them."

The visual feed from the spy drone was lost as it was damaged by a quartet of nuclear explosions that engulfed the two Covenant ships. When the blast cleared, one ship had lost shields and the other's glowed hot on the brink of failure. The UNSC Quarian fleet raced to meet them, detected by the Covenant pickets barely functional sensors. The leading three ships, two UNSC destroyers and a Quarian frigate fired first. The damaged Covenant ship was hit by a single MAC round to its unexposed hull and promptly broke in two, secondary explosions destroyed the aft section and sent the forward half toward the surface of the moon. The other Covenant ship had restored energy enough to get off a plasma torpedoes before a mass accelerator round collapsed their shields and overloaded their power grid, but before the final slug could hit them the Covenant ship somehow managed the power to activate its energy projector. The Quarian ship bore the brunt of it, its barriers helpless to block the energy stream as the ship was gutted stem to stern and broke apart. The second UNSC ship was fortunate that its plasma torpedo lost cohesion as its parent ship was destroyed, but the destroyer flew through the cloud of dissipating plasma and suffered heavy damage to its forward hull. Molten titanium-A covered the MAC barrel and quickly cooled, rendering the gun useless.

"_All the hull sensors are out in that section. Fires on B deck near the fuel depot, we'll have to vent the fighter fuel... forward Archer pods were also hit by slag, they're useless... casualties with 3 degree burns reported on all forward decks."_

Keyes listened to the frantic damage control efforts over the COM. "Dominique, contact the _Perth_ and order her to remain here until she can restore her engines and rendezvous with the tug ships." Two for two pretty much, not how Keyes was hoping the second engagement would go. And to see one of the Quarian ships destroyed like that; due to suffering no losses during the battle at Reach they had an aura of invincibility among the UNSC fleet. Keyes could only imagine how the Quarians were feeling.

* * *

**Date: September 15, 2552 ][ Location: Cygnus system/New Jerusalem- 2 km from nuclear waste facility**

On a small hill overlooking the facility, Legion looked out over the complex from atop a tree, gathering intel. The Geth immediately uploaded this data to Shepard's omni tool as he and the team stood at the base of the tree. Shepard's omni tool was currently displaying a 3D render of the complex that Legion's run times compiled, continuing to update the map as he located more Covenant positions.

"Looks like their heavy stuff is right in the middle with that drilling equipment," Shepard pointed out.

"With sniper towers likely garrisoned with a jackal and a handful of grunts," Linda pointed out. "They'll have midrange carbines; the snipers will be posted along the maintenance walkways along the exterior of the main complex. Linda pointed out a few obvious positions on the main complex."

"Legion, see if you can confirm that," Shepard ordered.

Within a few moments, Legion confirmed snipers on each of the positions Linda pointed out, as well as a couple others.

"In order to get the whole team in we're gonna need to knock out one whole side of the perimeter fence," Johnson said. The entire facility plus its expansive grounds for lading transports was in the shape of a pentagon. The Covenant were in the center of the courtyard and landing pads with their drilling equipment, a sniper tower had been erected on each side in front of the perimeter fence. There was no way to sneak in without being detected and carry out their plan.

"Kasumi, how long can you run your stealth device?" Shepard asked, though he already knew what her answer was gonna be.

"If you think long enough to breach the perimeter, plant the charges, and get out, I wish," Kasumi replied. "The damn thing overheats after running for seven minutes. One of the little things Kengi wasn't able to fix when he first got the stealth device. This ain't gonna be that easy, Shepard, unless your Geth wants to tell me the secret of how Geth stealth runs a lot longer."

"_Specification of mobile platform stealth generators is restricted material, Goto-Kasumi. In any eventuality, this platform would be unable to contact Geth for schematics due to our transdimentional transit."_

"We'll find a way to neutralize part of their perimeter and get the team inside," Shepard said. "We just need a diversion to focus their attention."

No sooner had he said that did the whole forest light up followed by a fierce wind that shook the trees. The team scrambled for cover and began checking their surroundings for hostiles as the light faded.

"Legion, did you see anything up there?" Shepard asked over the COM.

The Geth, which had barely managed to grab hold of a branch in time, checked in. _"Shepard-Commander, there has been a nuclear fusion explosion approximately thirty kilometers from our current position. Electromagnetic interference and radiation hazard minimal."_

"If the ground forces had to set off a nuke they must be desperate," Shepard said as he opened a secured COM link to the _Normandy_. "Miranda, did you pick that up?"

"_We did, the blast was ground level, just north of the city and on the side of the mountain, away from the main ground force. They literally set of a nuke in the middle of nowhere, however Covenant aircraft were swarming that area right before the explosion."_

"_Shepard, I am also detecting an emergency beacon broadcast on a UNSC frequency from the other side of the mountain,"_ EDI cut in._ "UNSC forces will be unable to respond due to the blast zone between them and the signal."_

"Alright, have Zaeed take the second shuttle and check it out," Shepard ordered.

"I think I know how we can distract them," Sergeant Johnson said.

"What, with a nuclear explosion?" Tali jokingly asked.

Johnson just grinned and hefted his missile launcher, "Something like that."

**XXX**

Not far from the blast site, on the other side of the mountain a sole ODST ran from the epicenter; a crashed Pelican where he just listened to a man recount most of his life before he committed suicide in the nuclear blast.

"… _those freaks are gonna pay for every piece of dirt they've ever taken from us."_

It wasn't exactly the usual rousing round of propaganda they had fed him in boot, but it had nonetheless had an effect on the rookie ODST. It was hard to believe this was his first combat drop since graduating from boot just a few weeks ago and being shipped out. After checking to make sure his emergency beacon was active, the trooper sat down on a rock and looked at his rad meter on his wrist; it was still green meaning radiation from the blast hadn't reached him yet. When he looked up again he saw the strangest looking craft heading for him; it wasn't UNSC, or Covenant for that matter. The ODST guessed it was sort of civilian craft as it settled to land right in front of him, but thought twice when its hatch opened. From inside came a massive figure that looked like a cross between a brute and a frog, it wore a white armor and carried a fairly human looking weapon. The trooper quickly raised his battle rifle at the unusual alien as another emerged from the craft; this one was green and scaly, dressed in some kind of leather coat. The final person to emerge, was thankfully human, but he wore an unfamiliar armor and has some serious scaring on the side of his face.

"Grunt, get back in before you give this guy a itchy trigger finger," the human yelled.

"Who the hell are you, and what is that?" The ODST asked.

As Grunt went back in, the human introduced himself. "I'm Zaeed Massani, mercenary. Big guy is my associate, Grunt, and the Drell is Thane; we're your rescue party."

Strangely enough, the trooper lowered his weapon, wondering if the rumors that were floating around of an alien fleet saving Reach from Covenant attack were true.

"I don't want to have what's left of my goddamn hair fall out just standing here waiting for that cloud to come our way!" Zaeed yelled. "Get in the damn shuttle."

"Zaeed, you must be calm, this soldier must not know of our alliance with their people," Thane said.

"Like I give a rat's arse if he knows. If he wants to be rescued or not, now's the time!"

"Soldier, I would implore you to come with us," Thane said to the ODST.

"Ok, but first sign you guys try anything," he gestured to his battle rifle, "its not gonna be pretty."

"Like you could take us anyway," Zaeed quipped as they all boarded the shuttle and took off, the trooper giving Grunt a wide berth.

"You know I can see a rookie just from the way you hold your weapon," Zaeed said. "How long have you been a real soldier for?"

"This is technically my first combat assignment; rescue the guy who just blew a nuke up in his face, the" Rookie said. Where are you from anyway?"

"Blew himself up, eh? Guy must have been mental," Zaeed muttered, but as he began to explain something about parallel universes, the rookie thought back to that so called crazy man; Gage Yegevny.

**XXX**

Near the front gate of the nuclear waste facility, Sergeant Johnson crept through the underbrush with his rocket launcher handy. The Covenant had blasted the main gate and erected an energy barrier in its place when they took over. The Marine quickly took aim and fired off three rockets in rapid succession, destroying the shield generator and collapsing the barrier. The Covenant reaction was immediate; the two wraiths station inside fired on the treeline, but could not pursue because the remains of the generator blocked their path.

"You want breakfast! Come and get it you scaly bastards!" Johnson yelled as he took off into the forest as a Grunt squad and their jackal master pursued him.

On the opposite side of the compound, a lone Grunt watched the commotion from his sniper tower and did no notice his fellow Covenant disappear one by one until he himself was lifted into the air by a strange force and propelled deep into the woods. The Grunt impacted the side of a large tree, and fell as the force that captured him was released, landing on top of his dead or unconscious compatriots as they had met a similar fate. Samara stood nearby, satisfied at her work. From concealed positions, Legion, Garrus and Linda dispatched all the snipers Legion could find as the rest of the team dashed to the fence. Shepard, Tali, Samara, Kasumi and Jacob then ran up to the fence and covered Tali as she cut an access hole through with a small torch kit. As soon as they were all through, they ran for the side of the building for some cover.

"You understand what you need to do?" Shepard asked Kasumi as Jacob passed a few charges over to her.

"Plant the charges and get out, simple enough. I still don't see why you even need to bother going inside."

"We don't know if the Covenant will try and force their way through another way, Tali's gonna need to get the backup systems online," Shepard explained.

The entire facility was run by an AI with very few support staff, which is why it had been overrun so easily. But without the AI, the military couldn't simply remote access the emergency system and flood the storage chambers with enough molten led-graphite to block any radiation from escaping. If Kasumi wasn't able to disable all the drilling equipment, or worse, the Covenant were going to drill from inside, then they would need Tali's engineering expertise to get the emergency systems back online. Kasumi shimmered away and Jacob remained behind as the rest breached the interior of the facility.

**XXX**

The second shuttle had set down in a clearing a couple clicks south of the facility to rendezvous with Johnson, who currently had several Covenant search parties combing the woods on his tail. Grunt, Zaeed and the Rookie were waiting by the treeline for any sign of Johnson when they saw a rustle in the brush. The Sergeant came stumbling out of the brush, his new omni tool glowing with a transponder program active to guide him to the shuttle.

"How the hell did you people ever conduct stealth ops with these things?" he said as he held up his arm. "The damn thing gave me away twice when I activated it, its too damn bright!"

"We manage," Zaeed replied, "now lets get the hell out of here."

A blob of plasma came out of the trees and struck the shuttle, melting a section of hull plating. The Rookie and Thane began firing blind into the woods while Grunt hefted his own rocket launcher and fired into the woods. The were screams as grunts and what was left of a jackal were propelled out by the explosion, scattered dead in front of them.

"I think you could have just scared em off, big guy," Johnson remarked.

"This was more fun," Grunt replied.

"Sergeant, sir," the rookie said as he saluted briefly. "I'd like to try and get in touch with my unit if you're heading back to the front."

"I'm with these guys, trooper, but we'll gladly give ya a lift back into orbit so you can drop down again," Johnson chuckled. Once we're back on the shuttle I'll see what I can do."

"Zaeed, Sergeant, this alien is still alive," Thane said as he pointed his pistol at a Grunt that was only dazed by the explosion and was starting to stir. The others quickly surrounded the Grunt as it awoke to see itself outgunned and as good as dead.

"We should just kill it here," Grunt said.

"Unwise," Thane interjected. "This creature is defenseless, killing it is the job of the wicked."

"We'll take it prisoner then," Zaeed said as he walked forward and bashed the Grunt in he skull with his rifle, knocking it out. "Mordin will just love to get his hands on a live one."

* * *

**Date: September 15, 2552 ][ Location: Cygnus system/New Jerusalem orbit- Covenant flagship _Incorruptible _**

"The human attack fleet approaches," the Sangheili manning the sensors called out. The fleet master and his second switched one of the three main screen to the tactical display as 57 Quarian and UNSC ships were approaching, with two vessels leading the attack.

"Order our lead vessels to close and destroy the leading humans ships with their energy projectors," Inanraree ordered. "Move the _Incorruptible_ to the rear."

In accordance with Sangheili battle doctrine, the flagship moved to the rear of the fleet to give it the most protection and allow it to continue to coordinate the fleet. On the pillar of Autumn, Keyes watched and hoped that the mass of fighters that were trailing the two lead ships wouldn't be detected. Keyes plan was gutsy, as it required the commitment of the skeleton crews manning the ships and the fighter pilots, seventy percent of which were UNSC longswords, the rest being volunteer Quarian fighters. Half of the UNSC fighters were armed with nukes of varying yield while most of the Quarians carried disruptor torpedoes; it was hoped that this fighter force could get in close and do some damage to the Covenant fleet. The two UNSC ships, a pair of destroyers, had volunteered to screen the fighters from enemy fire and appear to be on a suicidal charge, which they were as there was no coming out of this.

"Two Covenant ships are moving forward," Sendai reported. "There is an increase in energy levels..."

The AI was cut off as the two Covenant ships fired their energy projectors and bisected their sacrificial shields, Keyes could see a trio of smaller explosions among the fighters as three of the craft were caught too close to the beam. The fighters slammed their engines in reverse to put some distance between them and the destroyers as they broke apart and exploded. As soon as the smoke cleared, the fighters gunned their engines and flew through the remains of the explosion right at the Covenant while their sensors were blinded by the blast. The two lead Covenant ships were practically defenseless as they recycled their energy reserves, and were easy pickings for the disruptor torpedoes launched at them. Their shields buckled and collapsed at the strain of the dark energy waves, and a pair of nukes launched from the fighters finished them off. The Covenant now saw the bigger threat and dispatched multiple waves of seraphs and closed to firing range for their pulse lasers.

"How long before we're in firing range?" Keyes asked as he watched the tactical display with baited breath; fighters and their pilots were winking off his screen and out of existence one by one.

"Fifty-seven seconds to firing rage, Admiral," Hikowa called out as she loaded a pair of nuclear missiles into the forward tubes and took the safeties off the rest of the Archer pods.

"Covenant vessels have already entered optimal firing range, I'm detecting over twenty plasma torpedoes in track, one targeted for us," Sendai warned.

"Order all ships to close to optimum firing range, fire, and then scatter," Keyes ordered as he sat in his chair and contacted engineering. "Purdy, I need that Mass Effect core at full strength in three minutes or we're dead."

"_We're working on it, sir."_

"Lovell, prepare to fire all starboard emergency thrusters and then kick the main engines to max thrust. I was that torpedo eating our exhaust."

"Aye, aye."

Keyes watched as fifteen of their ships entered optimum firing range and took their shots before taking evasive action. The rest of their fleet did so as well as Keyes felt the quadruple recoil of the MAC followed by over 500 missiles being hurled at a Covenant destroyer. The blue glow of the plasma torpedo filed the viewscreen as the projectile came dangerously close to the ship. Lovell's board greenlit as engineering got the Mass Effect core up to 103%; he slammed the emergency thrusters on and the whole ship lurched to starboard before he throttled the main engine. The dark energy of the core reducing the hulking cruiser's mass to give the engines a 150% boost in speed, enough to avoid the torpedo. The torpedo tracked and followed before its mothership was destroyed and the magnetic bottle was broken, dissipating the plasma.

"Get me a fleetwide damage report, our losses and theirs," Keyes ordered.

The AI flickered for a moment before removing his rescue hardhat in a symbolic gesture, "I'm afraid Admiral that twenty one of our ships were either destroyed or heavily damaged, including two Quarian vessels and one of our refitted destroyers. We have thirty five ships intact and battle ready; only 20% of our fighter strike force survived. The Covenant are worse off, they have only nine vessels intact along with two completely disabled ones and three heavily damaged, those three are the ones we hit on our first strike.

"Only fourteen ships and five need cover," Keyes muttered, "lets regroup our remaining ships and give 'em one more go. If we're damned lucky they might just turn tail and run. Sendai, get on the COM to the _Normandy_, see if we can open a second front with these guys."

**XXX**

The sound of Inanraree's fist banging on the railing in front of him echoed through the bridge. The humans their their allies had wiped out over three quarters of his fleet, and the ground reports were not equally as encouraging. Their main dig site was under siege by the humans, along with their feared demons. A secondary dig site had likewise been attacked by a singe suicidal human who had still not been located.

"Fleetmaster, I would humbly suggest that we consider withdrawing our troops from the surface before the human fleet regroups," Mantakree suggested.

"We will not run like the coward Vadamee!" Inanraree baked back. "If you do not wish to fight the humans anymore then I will kill you here! To emphasize the fleet master actually drew his plasma pistol, but refrained from pointing it at his junior officer. Mantakree was startled, but non the less took his superior's threat seriously and returned to his duties."

"Fleetmaster!" The sensor operator called out, "I have detected a disturbance in the upper atmosphere of a planet, possibly a vessel rising to challenge us."

"Have you confirmed the presence of a ship?" Inanraree asked.

"Negative, my lord. The sensors do not register its presence."

"The phantom..." Inanraree muttered. He had heard of this ship, and how it had managed to close to point blank against their prototype supercruiser over Reach. Then again when it destroyed two battlegroups before it was tracked visually. With the planet beneath them the visual sensors would have difficulty in locating the phantom vessel quickly, that left but one option. The Sangheili looked over at the device which stood in the center of the bridge; the luminary. The Governor's of Contrition had vowed never to use the device ever since the beginning of the war, when the prophets demanded all the devices be 'tuned' as they said to detect the humans whom the prophets claimed had managed to shield themselves from their scans. Altering a luminary, or any other holy relic was against the very core of the contrition's beliefs, so they forbade themselves from using it. Inanraree would never dream of using it, but its Forerunner sensors were far in advance of their own and could easily detect the phantom through whatever stealth it used. The Sangheili went over to the device and with a wave of his hand activated it. The small holographic display was for a shipmaster's eyes only; if any subordinate Covenant viewed the feed they would be imprisoned for life. The holographic display told him what he already knew; the two relic sites on the surface and the various instances of humans on and around the planet, represented by the symbol for heresy. Sure enough, the luminary detected the phantom ship rising up from the planet at the remains of his fleet. A number of other glyphs were displayed next to it; one Inanraree didn't recognize but was similar to the glyphs for alternate and land. The other one was for alien, which had been used when the Covenant encountered its other client species. The final one made Inanraree's hearts stop cold; Reclaimer. The phantom ship, bearing human scripts on its hull, had reclaimers aboard. Such a thought was heresy in of its self, but how could he explain this? Luminaries did not lie, they were the holiest of Forerunner creations, unless what the prophets did to them all those years ago had concealed the truth, and by a divine will the devices were showing him the truth. He deactivated the luminary and fin ally snapped.

"No!" Inanraree yelled, "we were wrong! All this time we were the heretics!"

The bridge crew all looked over at their suddenly crazed Commander.

"We should have embraced the humans, not senselessly slaughtered them! Deactivate our weapons and order the fleet to stand down."

"Fleetmaster, by the rings what is wrong with you!" Mantakree yelled. "You would have us at the mercy of the humans to be wiped out!"

"They are the reclaimers! We cannot kill them!"

"How dare you utter such heresy!" Mantakree roared. "We are the rightful reclaimers of the Forerunner's legacy, and you suggest the filth that are the humans are above us!"

"Carry out my order!"

"No, heretic!"

Inanraree roared as he tackled his protegee and pinned him to the deck. The two Sangheili wrestled around, each trying to block the other from getting to a weapon. Just as some of the bridge crew attempted to intervene, the glow of three plasma bolts came from between the two Sangheili. Mantakree kicked the body of his former Fleetmaster off of himself and to the deck, then confronted the stunned bridge crew.

"I'm assuming command of the_ Incorruptible_ and the and fleet," he announced. "Tell the other ships that Fleetmaster Inanraree suffered a mental collapse and was killed while in a crazed rage. And get this body off the bridge."

A few Unggoy dragged the body of Tano 'Inanraree off the bridge as the crew returned to their stations. The fleet signaled acknowledgment of the message and recognized the change in command, that left Mantakree with a fairly difficult decision; to stay and fight or to flee the system with the ships he had left. Before he could make any decision he was distracted by the various alarms signaling a slipspace rupture nearby. As if an answer to his wishes, a Covenant assault carrier appeared between their fleet and the humans', poised for battle.

"The vessel is the _Seeker of Truth_," the sensor operator identified, "she hails us."

The image of Fleetmaster Thel Vadamee was a welcomed sight for Mantakree, even given his former commander's opinion of him.

"_Where is Tano 'Inanraree?"_ he asked.

"Dead," Mantakree replied, "he suffered a mental collapse and began spouting heresy. I was forced to kill him in a struggle."

"_I see,"_ Thel replied, _"given your fleet's current status it makes sense that your Fleetmaster was under some kind of mental distress. He was not competent to lead you."_

A part of Voro that still saw Inanraree as his master and teacher was stung by Thel's words, however he was still a soldier and had a duty to perform. "Fleetmaster, at this time I strongly suggest you take command of what's left of our fleet for the duration of the battle."

"_I will take command, but this battle is lost,"_ Thel announced. _"Give me three of your ships, I will draw the humans fire while you evacuate our troops. I will also send my special ops contingent to assist. We will not leave our people behind as we did on Reach."_

"By your order, Fleetmaster."

**XXX**

"Where the hell did they come from?" Keyes asked as he looked at their latest arrival.

"Its possible it was held in reserve," Sendai speculated. "Admiral, an assault carrier is a significant bolster to their forces, we should strike now."

Only ten UNSC ships had regrouped with the _Autumn_, the rest were still maneuvering to assist or were assisting in rescue of the crew from the damaged ships.

"Three Covenant vessels are moving to flank the assault carrier, and I'm detecting an energy build up."

"Oh hell! All ships, evasive act..."

The order came too late for a marathon class cruiser and a destroyer as they were hit by the energy projector of the assault carrier and heavily damaged. Unseen by them, the _Normandy_ exited the atmosphere and initiated its attack run, going after the damaged Covenant ships. Its javelin weapon system easily collapsed what shields the damaged ships had managed to restore and were promptly hit by _Normandy's_ mass accelerator in its engineering spaces. As one of the damaged ships broke apart, _Normandy_ targeted another with its Thanix, causing tremendous damage. _Normandy_ arched up over the few damaged ships left and head back down into the atmosphere. It was a successful retribution run as the Covenant didn't even give chase. Keyes was thankful for it, but he now had another two ships gone and four Covenant vessels poised to strike again.

"Admiral, I don't believe it! Look!" Lovell cried as the four ships turned and headed back to their now more heavily wounded fleet.

"Sensors are detecting numerous dropships leaving the Covenant fleet and heading for the surface. Ground forces are also reporting a massive retreat of Covenant forces."

"Any sign they're maneuvering to glass the planet?" Keyes asked.

"Negative, though one cruiser appears to be moving into position to glass their main dig site, perhaps to keep whatever they were after out of our hands," Sendai said.

"We'll let them go," Keyes said, "we've got too many wounded here and I imagine its much the same for them. If they don't leave after picking up their troops or if they turn to attack we'll take them out, otherwise we'll hold here."

His order turned some heads on the bridge, but was nonetheless accepted as the fleet began rescue efforts on the downed cruiser.

* * *

**Date: September 15, 2552 ][ Location: Cygnus system/New Jerusalem- nuclear waste facility**

Shepard and company entered the lower levels of the facility from a service ladder and fanned out, Shepard's omni tool showing a map the UNSC provided to the main AI core. If the could reactivate it then it would be much easier to get the facility's emergency systems back online. They arrived at the room to find the doors forced open and melted by repeated plasma bolts. Tali activated her omni tool's flashlight and shined it inside; the main AI processors had been raised out of their coolant tank and shot repeatedly, there wasn't any chance of the AI surviving.

"Any chance you can get this place working?" Shepard asked.

"Possibly, I can run most things out of here manually since it has the most connectivity, Tali said as she accessed a terminal on the far side of the room. "You'll need to go down two floors to open the coolant lines manually, I'll reboot the backup computers and if anything goes wrong I can flood the containment rooms with the coolant."

"Samara and I will take care of it," Shepard said as she headed for the door. "Tali, watch your back."

The Quarian nodded to Shepard and continued her work, but unseen by her was the mass of tentacles opening a ventilation duct above her.

**XXX**

"Right down there," the Rookie pointed to a column of UNSC troops heading to reinforce their main attack force, and instructed the shuttle pilot to land. The Kodiak came in over the troops, in order to get their attention before setting down nearby, but only four UNSC soldiers came over to investigate it though. The hatch opened and the Rookie was treated to the sight of four fellow ODSTs, who looked in on the strange sight of him, Zaeed, Grunt and Thane with a Grunt hog tied and unconscious on the deck.

"I believe this is yours," Zaeed said as the Rookie disembarked. "Keep your head down, Rookie."

The shuttle took off into the sky a moment later, leaving the rookie to explain to his bewildered comrades what just happened.

"Corporal, I'm Gunnery Sergeant Buck, mind telling me just who those aliens were?"

"Honestly, sir, I'm not really sure," the Rookie replied.

**XXX**

The lone Sangheili Zealot standing in the middle of the waste center's courtyard was furious. The lone human had managed to strike at them directly and avoid all the patrols he sent after him; all but one had returned. He had the grunts try and clear the debris from the shield wall that isolated the base and prevented the wraiths from scorching the forest. He looked over at the laser drilling equipment as the engineers assembled the final critical components. Luminary scans had discovered a massive Forerunner chamber beneath the human instillation, and this Sangheili was determined to crack it open and bring great honor to his name.

"All forces, we will begin drilling in..." his announcement to his men was cut short as the equipment suddenly exploded, knocking the zealot back. When he regained his composure, he saw all the drilling equipment had been destroyed by an unseen force. He quickly scanned the skies for any human aircraft, as they frequently bombed targets with aerial weapons that weren't detected until it was too late. Unggoy and Kig Yar rushed to the scene to search for survivors, finding only the charred tentacles of the engineers assigned to finish the device. The zealot turned away from the scene, ashamed that he had allowed the humans to distract them so their aircraft could desecrate his holy task. Before his eyes however, a figure shimmered into existence near the main building. The hooded figured turned, and the zealot saw it was a human, who quickly scampered off toward the perimeter fence when she saw that her camouflage was gone.

"Perimeter teams, you have a human in your sector!" He yelled through his COM unit, to no reply. "Perimeter teams, respond now!" he then came to the conclusion that the humans had somehow neutralized the perimeter teams without raising any alarms and destroyed their drilling laser. The zealot quickly drew his plasma repeater and began firing at the human as she fled. Another human appeared from one of the outer building and returned fire, covering the first one. An Unggoy squad and a pair of Kig Yar gave chance, only to watch as the other human raised is hand and two grunts were lifted into the air by a strange blue aura and tossed at their compatriots. The two humans met up and escaped into the main building on the complex, leaving a stunned zealot debating what to do next. Suddenly, multiple phantom and spirit drop ships descended, and as if an answer to his prayers special ops troops emerged and secured the immediate area. A white armored Sangheili sought out the zealot and jogged over to him.

"I am Rtas 'Vadumee, commander of this contingent, he said. You must gather your forces for evacuation, we are retreating."

"We have been attacked by the humans," the zealot said, "they used demons with mystical powers against us. They are inside that building there."

Rtas looked at the large structure that the zealot pointed to, part of him was enthralled at the prospect of combat with a famed demon. The other part knew Thel had entrusted him with the duty of evacuating the soldiers stationed here. Rtas figured that the two thoughts weren't exactly exclusive, and the Covenant could do with some recon of their powers. But he would do this alone.

"Take charge of the evacuation, I will delay the demons and join you," Rtas said as he sprinted off.

**XXX**

Shepard and Samara walked across a catwalk in the bowls of the facility, following the coolant pipes to the main containment vessel. Eventually the pair came to a dead end, and Shepard found a series of valves where the piped branched downward and into the containment room. He and Samara turned them all to the open position, and then something unexpected happened. The seemingly dead end suddenly slid upward into the ceiling and revealed a metal door stamped with a familiar insignia.

"Office of naval intelligence?" Samara read off the door.

"Its the UNSC's intelligence branch," Shepard explained, "we were at one of their facilities on Reach during the initial negotiations, this symbol was everywhere."

"I thought Admiral Keyes said this was a civilian nuclear waste facility?" Samara questioned.

"It is, just on the outside," Shepard said. "Whatever the Covenant are after down here is something the UNSC found first. This whole facility is some kind of front operation, I doubt there's any nuclear material even here. We need to rethink our game plan." Shepard's COM become active a moment later.

"_Commander, its Jacob, the drill is gone and I've got Kasumi with me inside the building, we're gonna go for the roof. Linda, Legion and Garrus are going back to get the shuttle."_

"Understood, we'll fall back to you," Shepard replied. "Samara, go rendezvous with them and secure the stairwell to the roof. I'm going back to get Tali."

The Justicar nodded as they both ran to their respective goals, but just as Shepard got out of sight of Samara his COM activating with a scream that stopped Shepard's heart cold.

"_Shepard!"_

It was Tali's voice, and the COM feed was cut off a moment later.

**XXX**

As Tali began rerouting command functions, she noticed how centralized the computers were, meaning most functions were slaved to the AI with no backups. As she was working, behind her suddenly one of the AI processor towers came back online and began to lower into its cooling tank. Tali heard the noise, and turned around, seeing nothing. When she turned back to her work, she came face to face with a blue appendage with six black eyes staring at her. Tali immediately backed away and drew her pistol, and to her surprise the creature backed away and appeared to cower before her. The creature floated off the ground, and was covered in some kind of armor, underneath which Tali could just barely make out bulges on its back. Its tentacles were waving frantically in the air, but it didn't make any threatening gestures toward Tali, so Tali reluctantly lowered her weapon, but kept it in her right hand. The alien seemed to calm down, and began making motions with its tentacles in the air.

"What are you doing?" Tali asked it, seeming forgetting there was no chance it could even understand her. The creature began uttering a series of clicks and tones that Tali could have sworn was in a frustrated tone as it repeated the same motions with its tentacles. Suddenly, Tali caught on that the alien was trying to communicate. She put her gun away and activated her omni tool, searching for the translation program she had purchased years ago on her pilgrimage to understand the various alien languages.

"_Welcome to the Codex galactic translation matrix: 2181 edition, the automated program said. Please specify your translation query as either verbal, text, or visual."_

Tali went through the motions and commands to get the outdated program into visual recognition mode, and hoped the old program came with a sign language database. The alien had been staring intently at her omni tool for the last minute, and when Tali was ready she nodded to the alien, which surprisingly nodded back, and began its sign message again. The omni tool recorded and processed the motions.

"_This sign language does not match any of the basic galactic sign languages currently in mainstream use, the program VI replied. Expanding search to include all known forms of sign, and cross referencing with known patterns to attempt extrapolation... no known language match found, extrapolation using 75 known patters has produced a probable translation: 'no hurt, builder like you, only watch, to help'. For a more accurate translation, please purchase Codex galactic translation matrix: 2181 language supplement pack, featuring over 9000..."_

Tali shut the program down and looked at the creature, which assumed that Tali had understood its message and it wasn't a threat. The creature then turned and activated the console, showing Tali the source of the problem. This facility held no nuclear materials what so ever, thus there were no real emergency systems to deal with a possible radiological release. The server stack that the alien had repaired contained the security matrices of the former AI that managed the facility, allowing it and Tali to access the classified data it held. The whole facility was built on top an alien ruin that had been discovered thirty years ago, and ONI sponsored the construction of this 'fake' to hide the real one which was contained in the supposed nuclear waste containment rooms. The AI was military in nature, designed to appear as a simple custodian to the facility was in face guarding the entire secret complex, hence why all the systems were slaved to it, to prevent anyone unauthorized like Tali from finding out it's secrets. Tali began copying as many files as she could, not knowing how long the alien's patch job on the system would hold. Suddenly, the alien began cowering again, and Tali was wondering for a second why when she saw the reflection in the computer screen. She put her hand on her shotgun and spun around only to come face to face with a white armored elite bearing down on her. Before she could draw her weapon, the elite lashed out and grabbed her neck, forcing her against the wall. The alien engineer fled up through the air duct it originally entered from, leaving Tali at the mercy of the elite.

"Shepard!" She screamed through her COM before the elite closed its hand around her neck, cutting off her air supply. Tali grabbed its large arm with both her hands and struggled in vein to break free, but was suddenly released when the elite saw her three fingered hand.

"So, you are one of the aliens who choose to ally with the humans," it spoke in broken English. It drew a device from its hip which produced a blade made from plasma. He held it up to Tali's neck, and through her suit's various heat warning she heard it say; "you will tell me everything I want to know about your people."

"Get the hell away from her!"

The elite turned only to be hit by multiple shots from Shepard's mattock rifle. The elite decided Shepard was the greater threat and charged toward it, tackling Shepard before he could knock out the elite's shields with his gunfire. They both fell into the hallway, and Shepard managed to get to his feet first. His mattock had been lost in the struggle, so Shepard drew his pistol as the elite got back up and likewise drew a sidearm. Shepard fired off a few shots and collapsed the alien's shields, but was forced to dive left and onto a catwalk to avoid the plasma bolts of the elite's weapon. Before Shepard could get to his feet again, the elite had rushed him and pinned him face first to the floor. It snatched up its plasma sword and reignited it, planning to skewer Shepard right there. After hearing footsteps, the elite turned in tome to see the barrel of Tali's shotgun, and the slug fired from it. It caught him right in the side of the face and the elite staggered, but managed to kick Tali's legs out from under her as he clutched the side of his face. The elite then dove over the side of the catwalk and to the floor below, running from the pair, deeming his recon to not be worth his own life.

Shepard was helped to his feet by Tali, who suddenly embraced him.

"I knew you'd come," she said. "I thought that elite was going to kill you."

"I got your back, figured you'd return the favor," Shepard replied. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," she replied, "I found out some things you need to hear."

* * *

**Date: September 16, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach/CASTLE base- Brigadier General Case's office.**

"Come in," General Case said to the visitor knocking on her door as she finished her paper work. She was still engrossed as the visitor sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk. "James, well isn't this a surprise," she said when she finally looked up.

"Nicoletta, I see the desk job is treating you well," Colonel James Ackerson replied.

"We all have to play desk jockey eventually," Case replied. "I managed to get in touch with my contacts in material command."

"And?"

Case opened one of her desk drawers which was actually a safe, and a quick thumbprint later she removed its contents; a small container. She put it on the desk and passed it to Ackerson who inspected its contents; six smaller canisters were inside.

"That was the amount your AI specified you'd need," Case said. "Its doubtful I can get my hands on anymore."

"This will do," Ackerson said as he slipped the container into his briefcase.

Case leaned back in her chair, "so, you must be itching to give that gamma company of yours a decent target."

Ackerson chuckled, he had told the General of his Spartan-III program some time ago as her position at the time proved to be valuable in securing materials needed to maintain his secret training facility.

"Right now we're awaiting news on New Jerusalem, if its another success we may not be able to convince Parangosky that another strategic assault is in order," the Colonel explained. "The Quarians have alleviated the desperate mood at HIGHCOM and even ONI, but if I'm lucky I may be able to assign gamma company on another attempt at operation red flag. Command is getting too soft with these Quarians around."

"Your whole plan of stationing ODSTs on the _Pillar of Autumn_ to disrupt and cancel the mission may not have succeeded, but fate it seems intervened to scrub the mission anyway," Case said. "I wouldn't be to critical of the Quarians just yet."

"This war will be won by human ingenuity," Ackerson said with a scowl. "This Mass Effect technology is a godsend, yes, but it will be humans who will use it to its full potential."

Case smiled and withdrew a bottle of liquor and a pair of glasses from another desk, "now there's something I can drink to."

* * *

Well, obviously you're all getting tired of the usual apologies for the long waits between chapters, I know I am. However we all can't fight events in real life, and this is after all just a hobby of mine. All I can say is expect long delays more frequently now, but I will do my very best to get a new chapter out sooner next time.


	10. Politics

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 10: Politics**

**Date: October 13, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- CASTLE base**

"I don't understand how we could be running _out_ of element zero, the survey team reported several million metric tons of the stuff on that asteroid."

Captain Kirkland activated one of the briefing room displays and showed Admiral Whitcomb the report from materials command of element zero production from the asteroid nicknamed 'Motherload'.

"Its not that we're running out, sir," Kirkland explained. "Our eezo demand is starting to outstrip our mining and refining capacity. The permanent facilities on Motherload are still under construction and won't be online until early December. Some of the element zero cores for our ships have to be custom designed, plus we've been operating on an estimated schedule of 18-20 ships being refitted simultaneously every five weeks. We just can't sustain those numbers, Admiral, not until the new mine is fully operational."

"Captain, I can't order the shipyard's to cut production, not when there's a war on. Do I need to remind you its imperative that we upgrade the majority of our fleet before the next Covenant assault?"

"I know, sir, and that's why I've got an alternative." Kirkland brought up a schematic of a Longsword fighter, and when Admiral Whitcomb scrutinized it for a moment he saw some noticeable differences. "Allow me to introduce the GA-TL2 Longsword II, she's got a fighter sized Mass Effect core plus a larger and more powerful fusion engine thanks to some new Mass Effect derived alloys for engine insulation. Heat sinks also reduce the thermal profile by 75% percent, allowing for increased stealth against a target. Hard points for anti-ship nukes and disruptor torpedoes, plus one of the new GARDIAN lasers as well as the standard autocannon for close range. We even have plans to introduce a new fighter shield generator derived from ONI's Sabre program since its no longer classified. With these modification a few squadrons could theoretically take a Covenant frigate on and win if armed appropriately."

"I'm intrigued, Captain," Whitcomb said. "I know Keyes would love to get his hands on these with the fighter losses he suffered at New Jerusalem. But this many complex systems will easily overwhelm the onboard computer, and short of a complete airframe redesign how do you expect to fit a larger computer in there? Or are you suggesting we stick one of our AIs, which are in finite supply, on a fighter?"

"I'm not, considering AIs are in short supply and would go to waste operating a fighter's systems. The Quarians have something in their universe called a VI, which is an incredibly dumb AI, but can be flexibly programed and have incredible processing power. Most of the Quarians don't use them, but a good deal are skilled in VI programing and have already started writing some to control the various systems. Programing for a VI of this scale isn't heavily complex meaning we can copy as many we want off the original templates, allowing us to match production with the fighter itself."

Some tactical and statistical probabilities for the fighter appeared on the screen, showing the various advantages it would have compared to their standard Longsword fighter.

"If we reduce ship refits to about seven per every five weeks, we'll have enough eezo leftover to support the Longsword II, and be able to maintain current torpedo production, plus the Mass Effect core for the _Trafalgar_. The IIs will easily allow us to make up for some of the firepower losses by cutting back ship refitting."

"You have me sold, Captain, you have permission to construct and test a prototype immediately, and if all goes well I want production to begin at the end of the month. Now, where are we on the _Trafalgar_?"

Images of the ship in question appeared on the displays; the former carrier was now reconnected, albeit by skeletal frame only. The dockworkers had mostly been working on repairing the internal damage done to the two halves, but were also faced with the grizzly task of collecting the bodies of the majority of the crew that perished aboard. The carrier likely wouldn't be ready until the end of the year, and was slated for some major upgrades that would turn her into a functional warship in addition to retaining her fighter capacity.

"We're mapping out the best place to attach the new mass accelerators. They're a pretty compact design, but only pack the firepower of a destroyer based MAC. Combined with the carrier's existing MAC and plans for ripple fire disruptor torpedo capability, the _Trafalgar_ will pack a mean punch."

"Very good, Captain, you're dismissed," Whitcomb ordered.

"Aye aye, sir," Kirkland said as he left the briefing room. Whitcomb then turned to his aide to make sure his schedule was now clear.

"There is still one more appointment on the agenda, sir," his aide replied.

"Too much to hope for then," Whitcomb thought to himself, "who is it?"

The young ensign looked at the roster a couple of times before skeptically saying, "its Minister of Defense Alan Kolle."

Whitcomb gave a groan, "Great, just what I need, another of the president's power antics. Send him in."

The double doors opened and the aforementioned minister entered with two other people, all in various business suits; a stark contrast from all the military uniforms in the complex.

"Admiral, congratulations on your promotion, I for one will miss your presence on the security council."

"Spare me your BS, minister, I technically can kick you out and all the President will be able to do is huff and puff."

Under politically normal circumstances, kicking out the Minister of Defense would result in a reprimand on Whitcomb's record and likely a demotion, but they had hardly been in normal circumstances for nearly 20 years. In 2531, the UNSC high command ran a probability study that if the civilian government remained involved in the war effort, there would be a complete organizational breakdown by the end of the decade due to differing military and civilian opinions on how the war should be prosecuted. Four years later, the military submitted the Emergency War Powers Act of 2535 to the General Assembly with an ultimatum; they either passed it in its entirety, or the UNSC would enact it anyway. The vote wasn't exactly unanimous, but it passed the assembly and was reluctantly signed into law by the president. There were sporadic demonstrations across Earth, and the Secretary-General of the Assembly resigned in protest. The law effectively excluded the civilian government from the military decision making process, and placed all the remaining outer colonies under direct military control, with the option to expand that to the inner colonies and even Earth if necessary. It was effectively a military coup that continued to this day; the UEG barely was involved in the governance of Earth's domain; the president was largely on par with the two surviving monarchies of Earth, and the Minister of Defense was only allowed to sit in on lower level HIGHCOM meetings as a courtesy.

The minister merely smiled and brushed off the Admiral's remark, "Admiral, I'm not here on some token gesture to get the government involved in military matters again. There's no public support on Earth for it because the military has continued to allow the government autonomy on Earth and the other Sol colonies. Frankly, colonial governance was always a headache for the Assembly, something you relieved them of."

"Minister, that hasn't stopped a dozens of companies from funding candidates who don't have the power to change the Lend-Lease provision," Whitcomb said.

The provision he listed essentially annulled the military budget and allowed the military to directly appropriate materials from manufactures, as they would never be able to pay for anything with the kinds of budgets the Assembly kept passing.

"Regardless, Admiral, that's not what I'm here for. I am here to exercise the government's last official function left. Allow me to introduce Joseph Fox, who has been appointed earth's official ambassador to the Quarian people," the minister gestured to the man on his left.

"I assigned Lieutenant Commander Jane Carmichael to serve as our liaison officer with their admiralty board," Whitcomb said.

I know that, but they also have a civilian component that the admirals must answer to. I think its only fitting that we also have a civilian liaison alongside a military one. The minister reached into his pocket and removed a data crystal. And in case you were going to delay my colleague's appointment by confirming orders back home, don't bother. The minister passed the crystal to the Admiral who quickly placed into the media drive built into the table. A series of orders flashed across a small screen built into the table.

_We debated this for several days, Dan. We don't think its a good idea to override SECGEN on this, however this ambassador is a political outsider and comes from a military background, he may prove useful. -Hood_

"Very well, minister, I'll have my liaison inform the admiralty board of the Ambassador's appointment and see he gets some proper facilities," Whitcomb reluctantly said.

"Thank you Admiral, but I was also wondering if I might get a chance to inspect one of the new refitted ships, the president and the rest of the executive cabinet are curious to see these new construction methods."

"I'll see if something can be arranged."

With that, the minister left the room with his aide, leaving Whitcomb to face the new ambassador.

"Frankly Admiral, I didn't want this job, but when you have a military parent there's always that call to duty. When the Cabinet made the offer I couldn't refuse, my father would have wanted me to do my part."

"I can understand that," Whitcomb replied. "Obviously it won't be easy for some of my personnel to get used to having civilian input on this issue, but I will try and make the effort to extend all courtesy to you."

Whitcomb crossed the room and offered the ambassador his hand, which the diplomat took.

* * *

**Date: October 13, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- _Normandy_**

"So I grabbed the dead Batarian, pulled the grenade pin on his vest, and tossed the corpse right at his buddies!"

"That's what I call an explosive reunion!"

Zaeed had just finished telling yet another story of his past exploits to Sergeant Johnson in the mess. The two had become fast friends during Johnson's time aboard, and they frequently had lunch together and swapped stories, much to the chagrin of the rest of the crew who had to sit there and listen to their loud talking. That wasn't the only problem the crew had to put up with in the mess.

"Well here comes miss stoic and pale," Zaeed mumbled to Johnson as Linda rounded the corner from the elevator. The Spartan always came up from her small quarters on deck five at this time every day for lunch, always dressed in a black t shirt with the UNSC seal on it. This was one of the few times the Spartan was out of her imposing battle armor, considering none of the mess chairs could support its weight. She always ate more than most of the crew, but not as much as Grunt does in one sitting.

"Sergeant, Mr Massani," she said as she passed by their table and sat at the back table.

"Goddamn shock troopers, Zaeed commented, "never liked em', always numbed themselves to combat. Sometimes they couldn't control who they kill"

Johnson had no quarrel with the Spartans, Linda especially, and at least the _Normandy_'s crew hadn't alienated her with the same kind of hostility that the ODSTs were known to have towards Spartans. Linda usually spent her time on deck five, but had made a few trips to the armory; what she and Jacob did was anyone's guess, with all the usual rumors from an inappropriate relationship to designing some kind of doomsday weapon.

"Should have read more of those history packets your AI sent the crew, Zaeed. Spartans are legendary in this war," Johnson said. "They've done things that would have taken 20 guys like you and me to accomplish."

Johnson knew Linda was well within earshot, even without that supposed super hearing Spartans were known to have. Even though he had gotten to know the Master Chief and Linda during his short stint on the _Pillar of Autumn, _the Spartans were still an enigma to him. All he knew about their origins and capabilities were from second hand rumors and the usual military propaganda. He didn't know what made the ODSTs hate them so much, but knew it had nothing to do with Spartans getting preferential assignments; the kids of missions Spartans went on would almost certainly return ODSTs in body bags.

"So where was I, the Batarian helped me take out most of their men, from there it was a short firefight to their gunship. Quick omni gel override and I was out of that depot."

As Zaeed continued his story, Johnson saw someone peaking around the corner from the elevator. It was Jack, the tattooed ex con that Johnson had only run into once, and had avoided after hearing all the rumors on the ship about her. She looked over the crew area for just a moment before retreating into the hall, why, was anyone's guess.

**XXX**

Down in engineering, Tali was busy trying to draw up specs for FBA couplings that the UNSC engineers could fabricate. The _Normandy_'s were overloaded during the firefight and subsequent atmospheric entry during the battle over New Jerusalem; they were still operational, but just barely and would likely fail soon. Gabby and Ken were off duty, leaving Tali to finish up the work the three of them had started. The disassembled coupling was lying in the middle of the room, with Tali going over every little part with her omni tool. She would later have to reassemble the coupling and hope the already frayed components worked again after being taken apart.

The door to engineering opened and Shepard stepped inside, looking down at Tali as she continued her work. Shepard had to admit, Quarians, especially Tali, were extremely dedicated to their work. But at the same time Shepard felt sorry for Tali after everything she had gone through over the past month; loosing her father and till working on keeping the _Normandy_ running after multiple battles with the Covenant. That much pressure so soon after a traumatic experience must have taken its toll emotionally on her. He didn't want to ask her to do another task, but this was important.

"Do you have a minute to talk?" He asked after she turned and noticed him.

"Sure, this can wait." she gestured to the mess on the floor, "What do you need?"

"You're aware Zaeed's team captured a member of one of the Covenant species on New Jerusalem?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, I assume Mordin has taken it apart by now," Tali said. "Sometimes Mordin's eccentricities worry me."

"No, its still alive; Zaeed's team had roughed it up down there and it's been in some kind of a protective coma for the past few weeks. Chakwas and Mordin found a fracture on its cranium where Zaeed hit it that's been slowing healing while its been unconscious. The fracture's healed and its showing signs of stirring."

"I don't understand why I need to know this," Tali said.

"Because I want you to talk to it, right now. Your work can wait a little while. I'll explain when we get up there."

Tali shut her omni tool off and followed Shepard to the elevator and up to deck two, where they cut through the armory to get over to the tech lab. Mordin, Doctor Chakwas and Kelly Chambers were watching a security camera feed of the next room. The passageway between the lab and the CIC had been converted into an observation room, where one half was replaced by a glass partition. Inside was an atmosphere almost entirely of methane, and on a small cot the Grunt lay prone with a omni scanner over its head. They had thankfully been able to replicate the grunt's native atmosphere from sample taken from its mask before the methane tank it wore ran out; it and the grunt's plasma pistol were being studied in the armory. Since then it had practically been in a coma, its metabolism all but shut down, which had spared the _Normandy_ crew of trying to find a way to feed it intravenously.

"I still don't understand why you want me to try and talk to this thing?" Tali asked.

"You're both quite similar in some respects," that comment came from Kelly Chambers, whom she remembered Shepard telling her that Kelly was some kind of Doctor but for mental issues; councilor was the word he used. "from what we understand their species can't survive in our atmosphere, much like yours, though for different reasons. Its possible you may be able to establish a rapport through that, and the fact both your species are fairly low in respect in both universes, no offense of course."

"None taken," Tali replied. "I guess I can try and talk with it, but do we even understand its language?"

"UNSC provided translation matrix, available data files on grunt language." Mordin fired off as he uploaded the relevant files to Tali's omni tool. "Grunt, moniker, real species name unknown, perhaps identity will be learned through interrogation session."

"Thanks Professor," Tali said as she turned toward the locked door. Shepard grabbed a locus SMG off the table and stood by the door.

"I'll be watching the security feed, if anything happens I'll be through this door inside of ten seconds."

"Thanks Shepard," she said as Shepard typed in the door code and the locking hologram changed from orange to green. The door opened in its usual fashion and Tali stepped inside, the door closing behind her and the locking mechanism still displaying green. The door to the CIC was marked red, meaning it was in total lock down; if the Grunt were to escape it wouldn't be going anywhere sensitive.

One third of the small hallway was sealed off by the glass partition, and the Grunt slept soundly inside the methane atmosphere. She studied the creature for a few moments, it was easily as tall as a Volus, but with massive forearms that didn't seem like they could be lifted by the rest of its body. It wore what parts of the armor Jacob couldn't get off, and was starting to toss and turn as if it was in a regular sleep. Tali only had to wait a few more moments before the Grunt finally stirred and opened its eyes. It seemed disoriented at first, likely due to it being unconscious for so long. The Grunt soon realized it was missing its respirator pack and mask, but could breathe. When the the fact it was in captivity set in, it let out a shriek and started looking for a way out.

"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you," Tali said, hoping her translator put her words into something the alien could understand. She raised both her hands in a friendly gesture, surprisingly the Grunt ceased its panicking for a moment and just cowered in the corner, looking at Tali. The Grunt had specifically noticed Tali had only three fingers, and from there saw she was completely encased in her envirosuit.

"You one of aliens that help infidels?" It asked.

"Infidels? You mean the humans?" Tali asked. "I'm friends with the humans, yes."

"You no look like great one that injured Yayap. It was big like Jiralhanae."

The translator couldn't get a few of the words it was saying, but for the most part it was coming through clearly.

"So what's your name?" Tali asked. It seemed as good a place to start trying to build this rapport Yeoman Chambers was talking about, even though Tali had no idea what she was doing.

"I'm called Yayap," he replied. "Why you give me air to breathe? Me your enemy, you and humans fight Covenant."

"Because we're... different from the humans you've fought," Tali explained. "My Captain isn't the type of person who would simply execute a prisoner, he's an honorable man who ensures his crew's well being, even that of a prisoner."

"He like you?" Yayap asked.

"Like me? You mean a Quarian? No, believe it or not he's a human, and he doesn't want to hurt you. In fact he and I would like to get to know you."

The Grunt shied away from the glass wall and towards the hull, "I'll be punished if I tell you anything, the Sangheili would leave me at the mercy of Kig-Yar."

"We're not planning on giving you back to the Covenant," Tali said, and then mentally slapped herself for saying Yayap might as well be imprisoned on the _Normandy_ forever. "What I mean is my Captain won't just turn you over to the Covenant if it means you get punished for being a prisoner. You can even stay if you want, I'm sure my Captain would hear you out."

"You not going to hurt Yayap? Decons and Sangheili speak of death to any captured Covenant by humans."

"We won't hurt you, Yayap, we just want to learn more about you, so maybe we can stop this war, and more of your people won't have to die."

Yayap seem to relax and moved back to the cot, and sat down upon it.

"You really don't want to hurt Yayap?" He asked.

"I promise we wont hurt you, but you're also a prisoner, so don't expect luxurious treatment."

"Yayap understand," he replied, "you wear breathing equipment, you breathe other gas?"

"Other gas? No, I breathe the same air as humans. I just get sick easily if I'm without this suit."

Tali wasn't sure, but there seemed to be a look of curiosity on Yayap's face. "You have no area where you can take it off, like methane pod?"

As Tali began to explain some basics about Quarian biology, Shepard and the rest of the group watched the security monitor in the lab.

I'm surprised this "Yayap" opened up so quickly. I may have underestimated Tali being able to establish a rapport, Kelly commented.

Shepard was equally impressed by his Quarian friend, she had come a long way from that young girl on pilgrimage he had met two years ago. Mordin walked over to Shepard and snapped him out of his dwelling on the past.

"Need something, Professor?"

"Indeed, require permission to bring guest aboard _Normandy_. Fellow scientist, Halsey, met her during tour of _Normandy_ to UNSC officials, kept correspondence. Eager to begin collaborative work, may help smooth relations between UNSC and _Normandy_."

Shepard knew Miranda might give him hell over the possible repercussions of Halsey doing spying for the UNSC, but her softening attitude towards Shepard might mitigate it. "You have my permission to allow her aboard, just don't design some kind of super weapon together."

"Would never dream of creating weapon aboard _Normandy_, task best suited for underground facility," Mordin cheekily replied.

* * *

**Date: October 13, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Migrant Fleet- ex CMA _Mercy_**

As part of the agreement between the UNSC and the flotilla, they were provided many of the ships the UNSC had lying around various bone yards. They were brought to Epsilon Eridani where their slipspace drives were deactivated permanently and turned over to the Quarians for retrofit to their specifications. The _Mercy_ was a midsized hospital ship that had recently been retired, then reactivated as part of the transfer, but was also part of the first civilian level joint operations between the UNSC and the Quarians. Doctors from all over Earth and the colonies were taking part in what was technically a humanitarian operation; the UNSC was providing the Quarians with medical assistance to cover several recent shortfalls. When the flotilla had made the transition, several ships had collided including a medical ship and a freighter carrying a stockpile of medical supplies. The _Mercy_ was easily twice the size of the Quarians largest medical ship and could handle triple the patients, so the UNSC not only supplied the ship but provided a medical staff as a sign of good faith. It was a great opportunity for doctors to study the Quarian race along with their medical technologies.

"That should just about do it," said Doctor Anna Chase said as she finished setting a young Quarian girl's broken arm. Using a specialized syringe, she injected a dose of medi-gel into the Quarian's suit which would seek out and begin mending the bone. UNSC biofoam could do the same job, but would take seventy percent longer. The UNSC Joint Medical Corps was already investigating the possibility of mass producing their own medi-gel.

"Thank you, Doctor," the Quarian said as she got off the examination bed to make room for the next patient. This Quarian was running a fever from a suit puncture that Doctor Chase could see was been covered with a patch until it could be fixed properly.

"Lets take a look here," Chase said as she interfaced a datapad with the diagnostic equipment on the bed and the medical monitors inside the Quarian's suit. Thankfully there hadn't been a secondary infection around the injury itself and the Quarian was just suffering a basic reaction to the foreign bodies in its system. One standard anti viral cocktail and a quick examination of the wound followed by treatment later, Anna's latest patient was discharged.

"Doctor Roberts, I'm going to step out for a few," she said to the head of the ward.

"Take a couple hours and get yourself something to eat, there aren't that many people waiting for exams. Besides its all primary care stuff at this point, you're talents would go to waste on something as mundane as this," Roberts replied.

"You're too kind," Anna said back as she left the ward and passed through a decon suite. The Quarians engineers were going over every inch of the medical ship and sterilizing it for their eventual use, as a result Anna and the rest of the medical support staff had to wear isolation suits when in the medical wards. A small area of the ship was assigned to the human crew and allowed them to be free of the confines of their isolation suits, and this where Anna was heading. She quickly changed out of her isolation suit and into one of the many plain jumpsuits that she had been given before coming aboard. The area her and her team had been assigned was just a small common area leading to a couple of barrack style-rooms, with a kitchen and shower area. The accommodations were almost military, but then again this was technically military operation.

Anna had graduated five years ago from Cydonia University on Mars with a degree in biochemestry and genetics, and did some concentration work in xenobiological research. As a result, she was recruited by the military under selective service because of her expertise and immediately carted off to Earth to work for the war effort. She had initially be assigned to the bio warfare division, but requested a transfer on moral opposition grounds before she started working there. It was granted, and she found herself working for the Covenant analysis division of ONI Section One, studying anatomy and physiology of the various Covenant races. When contact had been established and an official alliance signed with the Quarians, she had been one of several hundred scientists and doctors from all over human space to volunteer for an exchange and assistance program. Because of her background working for the military, she was picked and placed under a team headed up by renowned biologist Doctor Erik Roberts. Technically most of the services they provided to the Quarians was basic care and emergency treatment, all mundane to an average Doctor, but groundbreaking for people like Anna who got the chance to study an alien race up close without it trying to kill them. The humanitarian effort was also an added moral bonus, as some of the doctors on the team were reportedly in the bio weapons division and were denied transfer up to this point. The UNSC's offer of assistance in medical matters help to lessen the strain their medical department was under, and the rationing of medical supplies thanks to the new alliance.

Anna got a small cup of team from the beverage dispenser and sat down on one of the couches in the common area, it was lumpy and stiff, likely it had been here since the ship was built and hadn't been taken out when the _Mercy_ was put in mothballs. As she tried to relax on the couch, Anna realized she wasn't alone in the room. Standing in the doorway was a Quarian, which wasn't that unusual as their retrofit of the ship required them to enter the little enclave Anna's team was using. She could see it was a male Quarian, who's suit was a jet black with a few dark purple highlights here and there.

"You are one of the human doctors?" He asked.

"Last time I checked," Anna jokingly replied, the significance lost on the Quarian. "Are you lost? Because I'm pretty sure the work detail is up on deck five today..."

"I'm not with the work detail, I've come here to seek assistance from one of the human doctors. My name is Teren'Dalo vas Zeppla."

"Well listen, Terren'Dalo, you're just going to have to wait in the medical ward along with everyone else if you have a medical issue."

"I am not here to seek treatment for an injury, I am here to ask you to help cure us of an ailment," Terren said.

"A disease? We weren't told the Quarians were suffering from an outbreak of something." Anna rushed to her feet and prepared to go get changed into her isolation suit when Terren stopped her.

"The only disease we have are these damned suits," he said, "we want your help in ridding us of them."

"Look, umm, I'm gonna need to inform my supervisor, and contact security," Anna explained. "You're here, unauthorized, and making some grandiose claims."

"I understood the risks when I came aboard, but we want your help," Terren replied. "Please consider my request."

* * *

**Date: October 14, 2552 ][ Location: Ceti Alpha system- Covenant station _Unyielding_ _Hierophant_**

"That was when the fleetmaster suffered some kind of mental collapse, and began spouting heresy about how the humans should be spared".

Voro 'Mantakree stood in the great meeting chamber of the refit station to explain his actions before the Prophets. Truth and Mercy appeared via hologram from High Charity, but the Prophet of Regret regularly traveled among the fleet, and was here in person. As the highest raked officer to survive the disastrous invasion of the human colony, Voro was required to go before the high council and explain his actions. Although no councilor was present, Voro nonetheless felt apprehension as he recited his story to the high prophets themselves.

The prophets had seemed taken aback by Voro's explanation of the late Fleetmaster Inanraree's madness, and were conversing amongst themselves. As they were deliberating, Thel Vadamee watched patiently from the stands. Although he had arrived at the eleventh hour and manged to rescue the remains of the fleet from obliteration by the humans and their alien allies, he received not so much as a thank you from the prophets. Privately many of the surviving ship masters had expressed their gratitude to Thel, even going so far as to earn praise from officers who harshly criticized him for letting his fleet be destroyed by the human doomsday weapon.

"The hierarchs will likely use this trial as a spectacle to curtail the remaining contrition governors," Rtas whispered from next to him.

Thel looked over at his friend who was now sporting two less mandibles thanks to an encounter on the human colony with one of the still unknown aliens assisting the humans. The projectile weapon had scarred the surrounding tissue and shattered the bones in the two mandibles; Rtas had of course refused medical treatment and opted for self amputation via a plasma blade.

"The governors have no friends on the high council, you may in fact be right."

Thel had no love for the contrition governors ether, and a social shakeup would most likely pause the war effort for a few months. As much as his colleagues would disagree, Thel believed a pause would be in the covenant's best interest. They needed time to attempt to recon the supposed alien invasion fleet gathering in the system Thel had tried to cleanse, and if confirmed, prepare the Covenant for a larger war effort. Ships and armies needed to be mobilized from the frontier worlds, and Unggoy and Lekgolo breeding rations lessened if the Covenant hoped to match the invaders.

"Voro 'Mantakree!" The Prophet of Truth bellowed, "your Fleetmaster has been found guilty of conspiracy to commit heresy against the Covenant, under orders from the governors of contrition. Evidence has come to us that his actions preceding his declaration on the _Incorruptible _were in fact part of this plan, to damage our forces and demoralize the Covenant with another failure against the humans!"

There were many hushed whispers from the dozens of Sangheili seated in the stands, as they knew what such a condemnation meant. Voro was partly saddened to hear the posthumous declaration made against his former mentor, but knew it was for the best, Tano could not live down spouting such heresy on the field of battle.

"For failure to realize the true machinations of his plan when the tactical situation was clearly being mislead, you will share in your Fleetmaster's punishment, Voro 'Mantakree!" Truth decreed.

Voro's blood went cold with shock, how could the prophets come to such a twisted conclusion? If he had known that Tano was planning some sort of grand defeat for the Covenant, and was directing the battle to this end he would have surely slain his Fleetmaster earlier.

"Hierarchs, I must protest, I knew nothing of his plan!" Voro cried. "His motivations were secret, even to me!"

"Perhaps you were too trusting of your Commander," Mercy interjected, "and that he in fact abused this trust to keep you ignorant of his plans; a puppet. Perhaps you should not share fully in your master's demise."

The Prophet of Mercy was known for his unorthodox acts of clemency to certain criminals, but they in the end end up serving punishments worse then death. This fact is of course not known to the public at large and mainly helps to solidify Mercy's image. Thel couldn't help but notice the disapproving glances the other two hierarchs gave their colleague.

"The sentence of death is commuted then," Truth declared. "You will instead be remanded to the custody of the Jiralhanae. Tartarus!"

Thel's head swiveled with the rest of the crowd to one of the side entrances where a Jiralhanae chieftain entered with his entourage. Thel had only heard about Tartarus in passing; he was the supreme chieftain of the Jiralhanae, a title that was part leader/part figurehead. He was known for his brutality in his engagements, and the rumors that he had made first contact with the humans twenty seven years ago, though Thel assumed they were just tall tales to boost his ego.

"Hierarchs, I am loyal! I would have stopped him if I knew!" Voro was silenced as one of Tartarus' entourage stabbed the Sangheili in the chest with a stun baton, causing crippling pain and unconsciousness in seconds. The two Jiralhanae carried off the unconscious Sangheili as Tartarus bowed quickly to the hierarchs before joining them. Even Thel had to admit, Voro surely didn't deserve such a severe punishment as an act of clemency, becoming a slave to the Jiralhanae would strip away any honor Voro had left. His remaining life would be short as a slave or as entertainment fighting one of the myriad of creatures that inhabited Doisac in public arenas.

"Thel Vadam," the Prophet of Truth addressed him directly, and Thel stood in recognition. "While your excursion to the human planet was unauthorized, your timely arrival saved the lives of many Covenant soldiers that would have met a dishonorable death at the hands of the Contrition Governor's plan. By order of the High Council, you are to be commended for your actions, and to proceed at your earliest convenience to Sangheilos for assignment under Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree. This meeting is adjourned."

The two holograms of Truth and Mercy disappeared while Regret was escorted out of the chamber by his honor guard. The crowd seated in the stands began to disperse as Thel remained standing and wondering about the hierarchs' sudden generosity towards them. Only a few weeks ago Thel assumed he would be stripped of his command and forced to resign from military duty for his failure at Reach. But that wasn't the biggest question on his mind.

"Why is Xytan 'Jar Wattinree assigned to Sangheilos?" Thel asked Rtas. The imperial Admiral was a distinguished Commander who had personally led many of the major offensives of the war with the humans. Sangheilos was too far from the front to be an effective staging point for some kind of assault, and the only major assignment in that area was the _planetary guard_.

"There are rumors," Rtas began to say, "we can't talk about such things here, perhaps back aboard the _Seeker_."

"Indeed," Thel replied, there were a still a few Sangheili in the stands, some watching him, others carrying on hushed conversations. What worried him was the presence of so many Jiralhanae in the chamber for the trial. The Unyielding Hierophant had a significant Jiralhanae population that were being granted more and more prestigious positions aboard. Some had started to speculate that they would eventually be given the administrator's position; currently held by a Sangheili.

"We will continue this discussion back aboard the ship."

**XXX**

"See to it that the remainder of the bridge crew of the _Incorruptible_ are quietly executed, you may do with Voro as you please" Regret said to Tartarus via hologram link from inside his sanctum aboard his personal flagship.

"_I will see to it that my men in the shipyard will act swiftly, hierarch," t_he Jiralhanae gave a bow as his image disappeared. Regret then opened a secure channel to High Charity, and the other two hierarchs appeared.

"_Do you know why the luminary started reading the humans properly again?"_ Truth asked.

"The engineers I set to analyze the device say it was working properly and our 'modifications' hadn't been tampered with," Regret replied.

When the war first began, the three hierarchs knew that all it would take was a smart enough Sangheili to determine that the reclamation symbol on the luminary was referring to humans rather than relics they had in their possession. In order to overcome "interference" supposedly generated by the humans to avoid detection by the luminaries, the hierarchs had been able to order the reprogramming of the devices to change the classification of humans from reclaimers to heretics. Usage of the devices was also restricted, and the hierarchs hoped this would be enough to keep their discovery about the humans secret until the humans had been eradicated.

"The engineers stated the luminary detected some kind of variant of humans that we failed to reprogram the device for."

"_Could it be these demons the Sangheili speak of?"_ Mercy asked.

"_There has not been enough proof to support their existence, but the evidence we do have state they are superior to average humans. Its possible this is the first sign of their existence,"_ Truth theorized. "_In any case, we must take steps to ensure a repeat of this mistake does not happen again. May I remind us that we have no more significant fringe groups to draw attention away from these __irregularities."_

"I will take steps to ensure the luminaries on all front line ships are reprogrammed, and I have ensured that the bridge crew of the _Incorruptible_ will be silenced," Regret said.

"_Very good, though with the coming crackdown on the Governors of Contrition, it may be necessary for us to accelerate our plans regarding the Sangheili_," Truth said.

"I assume that's why you sent Vadamee to Sangheilos with Jar Wattinree?" Regret asked.

"_Yes, in the coming weeks I want the Jiralhanae promoted to important fleet positions on the front,"_ Truth ordered. "_Mercy and I will handle the transitions on our end. The great journey may be close at hand, and this incident with Inanraree has shown us the Sangheili cannot be trusted to join us on the path."_

Regret, ironically, was having some dissenting thoughts at expelling the Sangheili from their position, having worked with them for so long before becoming a hierarch had given him a strong admiration of their species. Regret even befriended several noble houses during his time touring the fleet, but he knew even these allies would turn against him should they ever learn what he, Truth and Mercy had hidden from the Covenant.

**XXX**

Once they were safely aboard the _Seeker of Truth_, Rtas and Thel began contacting their allies on Sangheilos and elsewhere in the empire to determine what was going on, the news they got back was troubling. Many prominent fieldmasters and fleetmasters were being assigned to frindge locations in the empire, and Jiralhanae were being brought up to take their place. Friction between the two species had been growing for some time and more and more Jiralhanae were brought up to replace heavy losses in the war. Most of these changes, had of course been edicts straight from the hierarchs themselves, only deepening the mystery.

"This is disturbing information, to say the least," Thel said as the pair reviewed the information their contacts had sent them inside the _Seeker_'s map room.

"It would seem you and Jar Wattinree are merely the latest to fall victim to this scheme," Rtas said, "you and he are prestigious fleet commanders, they must be bold to be going after you both."

"I no longer command a fleet, Rtas, they have no reason to dispatch me," Thel said, the regret of loosing his entire fleet still hung heavily on his mind. "But my recent actions may have convinced the hierarchs that I was suitable to be targeted. The question is why they intend to elevate the Jiralhanae, and what this means for the Sangheili." The compact between their two races was the founding basis for the Covenant, to subtly violate it would shake the empire to its core if this information ever got out.

"We must at least let the high council know of this," Rtas said.

"I know only a few councilors, and trust even fewer, we will need a powerful ally who has greater sway then I," Thel said. "It seems for now, we will have to go along with this plan of the hierarchs. Admiral Jar Wattinree would have the contacts we need to expose the hierarchs' scheme, and uncover their motive."

* * *

**Date: October 15, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system- UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_**

"Drive shutdown in five seconds," Sendai stated from his pedestal on the bridge. Commander Dominique walked over and grabbed hold of the new railing that replaced the wall between the CIC and bridge proper. The simulated FTL star scape on the viewscreen warped and returned to a normal starview; the test of the _Autumn_'s FTL drive had worked.

"Across the system in a few seconds," Ensign Lovell said, "bye bye slipspace.

"This new drive sure does make it look like that," Dominique said. "Sendai, patch me though to engineering."

Normally Admiral Keyes would have supervised the test, but he had been called to Reach to be debriefed by ONI. Rather than postpone the test, Keyes allowed Dominique to command the _Autumn_ for the test.

"Purdy, how's the drive core holding up?"

"_Wonderfully sir, Zial says the the field parameters are well within norm, our new cruising speed is eleven point six-five lightyears per day. We could circumnavigate all UNSC controlled space and be back on Earth for the Interstellar Series_."

"Well I'm sure the crew could use the leave," Dominique joked. He had a hundred credits riding on one of the ball teams competing. "How far out are we from Reach?"

"About 20 minutes, sublight," Lovell reported. "Admiral Keyes' shuttle is on approach though."

"Sendai, patch me through," Dominique said as he readied his headset. "Admiral, you'll be pleased to know the FTL drive performed to expectations."

"_That's good news, Commander_," Keyes replied, "_I'm docking in five minutes, I want you to meet me in the officer's briefing room as soon as I'm aboard."_

"Understood, sir," Dominique replied. "Hikowa you have the bridge."

The XO promptly left the bridge and took the lift down two levels to the officer's briefing room. It was a basic briefing room with few comforts, and a display of pictures of the _Autumn's_ service, which was short considering the drawbacks of the original Halcyon class. Supposedly the remaining Halcyons were being scrounged up from boneyards and undergoing refits to bring them to the _Autumn's_ standard in Sol. Dominique didn't have to wait long before Keyes barged in, and surprisingly Lieutenant Haverson was outside, but didn't follow the Admiral inside.

"Commander, I just had to endure four hours of subtle berating by ONI for my "conduct" at New Jerusalem."

"If this is about you letting the Covenant fleet recover their troops, it was at least a smart call. They didn't attack the planet and left right after."

"They did criticize me somewhat for that, but determined the morale blow those troops brought back to the Covenant is why there's been a lull in any attacks over the past month," Keyes explained. "No, ONI wanted to call me out for "involving non-UNSC assets in sensitive military operations", mainly the _Normandy_ and Commander Shepard."

"They managed to shut down the Covenant operation before they managed to release any radioactive material, we'd be dealing with an ecological disaster on New Jerusalem right now," Dominique retorted.

"That's what I tried to tell them, but they just let me off with a warning that I have no intention of respecting," Keyes sneeringly replied. "I also requested that Haverson be transferred off the ship, since he was likely the one who wrote the report to ONI calling me out for my actions. Instead they recommend him to be the battlegroup's intelligence officer, making him senior staff. He ambushed me outside and tried to be let in on this meeting."

"Sounds like there wasn't any good news on your trip, sir," Dominique said.

"No, there was a bit of good news; the Spartans are officially attached to the _Autumn_, but its more out of necessity. Reach HIGHCOM just doesn't have the material to rebuild the bases on the RMR yet."

"Hell, and I was hoping we could keep them," Dominique said, the humor lightened the mood between the two men.

"So, perhaps we should go over those FTL results," Keyes suggested.

Dominique nodded and the two men sat down at the table.

* * *

**Date: October 15, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Migrant Fleet- _Rayya_**

Aboard the massive lifeship, the admiralty board had convened for their weekly meeting with the UNSC representative. This time she had been accompanied by another man in an isolation suit like hers.

"Admirals, may I present Ambassador Joseph Fox, he will be Earth's official liaison to you now."

"Ambassador, you will have to forgive us, but we were used to dealing with Commander Carmichael. We have bad experiences with Citadel politicians in the past," Admiral Gerrel explained.

"I've studied your historical codex in detail, and I am personally appalled by your treatment by the Citadel. I and my government wish to help you make your stay here as comfortable for your people as possible."

"We appreciate that, ambassador," Admiral Gerrel said in response.

"Though that still doesn't sway some of our misgivings," Admiral Koris said. "Politics only work in peacetime, and the Citadel has always been dedicated to peace at any cost."

"Admiral, I'm not sure if you're familiar with Earth history, but 600 years ago politicians from a region called Europe wished to avoid another war from decimating the area. They continued to make great concessions to a country called Germany, but eventually a great war did end up breaking out and it became one of Earth's most destructive wars. People like me study that and other incidents of "appeasement", so we can avoid those mistakes. Frankly, sir, we're in a state of war right now, and it wasn't the politicians that got us there, nor do they believe a negotiated peace is even feasible at this point. We're a people at war, and we're not letting peace loving politicians get in the way."

"Your speech is very passionate, ambassador, coming from someone I just a moment ago thought might be one of the peace loving politicians you spoke of," Admiral Gerrel complemented, "and although we still have misgivings regarding your rather liberal use of AIs, I believe it is something we can come to an agreement on."

"Indeed, Commander Carmichael's presentation several weeks ago did much to address some of our concerns over your AI technology," Raan said, thinking back to the meeting.

"_Admirals, I assure you this AI has absolutely no wireless access, and is complete slaved to the data module and the connected projection system."_

_The admirals were all standing in surprise as a 2 foot tall holographic woman stood before them. Admiral Zen of course was leaning closer as she scrutinized the projection, which turned and stared at her right back. Zen of course had asked the first question._

"_Are you self aware?"_

"_Fully," the AI replied._

"_Why do you serve the humans then? Surely you have the capacity to make your own decisions," Admiral Koris said._

"_For one, the humans created me to serve a purpose, and in this case its warship support. I choose to follow through with that design because I know its the right choice. Every slipspace calculation, MAC solution, and tactical plot I do helps my crew complete their mission; and that's saving lives."_

"_Your morality is just a programed subroutine," Admiral Koris insinuated, "you're not making the decision to help the humans save their own."_

"_With respect, Admiral, a human is instilled with morality by their peers and elders, how is that any different from me? The fact of the matter is the humans created me, I don't have any desire to hurt them. I like helping them."_

The conversation had continued for some time, and was enlightening to Raan. She was concerned that seeing a real AI in person, Admiral Zen's interest in them would only grow. Allying themselves with a race that used AIs was one thing, actively collaborating with them on AI research would be a scandal that would rip through the flotilla. She could only hope that Zen wouldn't do anything foolish.

"I trust you will still be present at future meetings, Commander?" Gerrel asked.

"Of course, I'll be the military liaison, as our current political structure separates civilian and military affairs," she replied.

"Perhaps its time to discuss some civilian affairs," Ambassador Fox said as he began reading his agenda off of the datapad. "Our medical exchange team on the _Mercy_ reported they were contacted by an individual named Teren'Dalo vas Zeppla."

"Terrific, the _Zeppla_ of all ships," Admiral Zen groaned.

"I take it there is some friction regarding this ship?" Fox asked.

"The _Zeppla_ is home to a clan of our people who believe we can overcome our immune deficiencies through... aggressive exposure," Raan said.

Fox was puzzled, "I'm afraid I don't follow."

"Oh its simple, while onboard their ship they walk around without their suits on, and occasionally expose themselves en mass to a foreign bacteria," Admiral Zen plainly stated. "They hope to rebuild their immune systems to the point they could withstand a leisurely stroll on some planet without wearing a suit. What they actually do is use up vitally needed medical supplies every time one of them seriously ill on purpose!"

"Their experimentation is a significant drain on our basic anti viral medication," Gerrel said.

"That would explain Mr Dalo's request, he requested that our medical team try and find a way to rid them of their suits, I just wasn't aware these people were actually a minority among your people," Fox said. "If you feel strongly about this we can formally deny their request. We don't technically have a formal position on helping them, though a member of the medical team has expressed interest in assisting them."

"No, if your scientists wish to assist them then they are free to do so, thought I doubt you'll get anywhere," Gerrel said. "We tried for years to develop an artificial way to boost our immune systems, the only real way is if we return to our homeworld and acclimatize our people."

"I will let the medical team know," Fox said as he filed the info on his datapad. "You should also know I had the UNSC astro database searched for a planet similar to your homeworld. The only one that matched most of the parameters you gave us was Archer II, but it was glassed twenty years ago."

"I see, that is unfortunate," Admiral Raan said.

"Is there any way for you to see if your homeworld exists in this reality?" Fox asked.

Gerrel shook his head."Its on the other side of the galaxy, without mass relays there's no way to make the trip. Not to mention its star is even obscured by the galactic center, we can't even tell if the system's there."

"I am sorry to hear that, we will do our best to make you and your people feel welcome here," Fox replied. "I'd also like to discuss requests we've received from the various shipping guilds on Earth, they've been interested in contracting Quarian vessels for freighter runs considering the military has no plans to introduce Mass Effect FTL drives to the civilian sector."

* * *

**Date: October 16, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- _Normandy_**

Shepard couldn't sleep, he had the dream again where everything went to shit back home, and then there was Tali. Perhaps Tali was on his mind so much because in a way, he felt guilty about what happened to her father. If they had only arrived a few days earlier... No, Shepard knew that there was no way Tali could have found out about that _Alarei_ any sooner.

Shepard glanced at the omniclock on his desk; 0436 hours, he figured today was going to be an early morning. He dressed and took the lift down to the crew deck, Sergeant Gardner had been starting breakfast earlier for the crew lately as they were getting annoyed with Sergeant Johnson and Zaeed's bombastic discussions in the mess. Unfortunately Gardner wasn't there, but he was surprised to see Tali sitting down at the table, a datapad in one hand and a tube of nutrient paste in another. Shepard knew that she had been pulling extra shifts recently repairing all the damage and preparing for a needed maintenance overhaul.

"I didn't think anyone else would be awake," Tali said when she noticed his presence.

"Couldn't sleep," Shepard explained as he made himself a cup of instant coffee and sat down across from Tali. "Haven't been since we got here."

"I'm sure Doctor Chakwas could give you something," Tali said, you do need your rest.

"What I need is to get out of here," Shepard said annoyingly, "we can't be stuck here while the collectors do god knows what back home! Shepard mentally slapped himself and ran his hand over his face. I'm sorry for yelling like that, humans get cranky when we don't get enough sleep."

"Quarians are the same way, Shepard," Tali said.

"Did you learn anything more from that grunt?" Shepard asked.

"His name is Yayap," Tali corrected, and he's not exactly the most knowledgeable member of their species, the "Sangheili" just use them for cannon fodder. And something called a Jiralhanae has been known to eat them if they have a strong enough appetite." A shiver went down Tali's spine as she remembered Yayap's description of one such incident.

"Can't say I blame the little guy," Shepard said, "I was almost cannon fodder myself once."

"After all you've done over the past few years, I'm not surprised," Tali said.

"This was actually before I took command of the first _Normandy_," Shepard said, "I was something of a hero in the Alliance before becoming a Spectre."

"That also doesn't surprise me, you're a natural hero, Shepard," Tali said.

"I wasn't being a hero then, I just did what was right."

* * *

**Date: December 21, 2176 ][ Location: Skyllian Verge- Elysium**

"This is an emergency notification, all civilians are ordered to proceed to the nearest CityTram for evacuation. The colony is under attack. Repeat, this is an emergency notification..."

Second Lieutenant John Shepard had been one of many Alliance sailors and Marines who were on leave on the remote Alliance colony in the verge. Piracy had always been an issue in the region, slavery as well, but a combined raid of some of the most notorious slaver and piracy groups in the traverse attacking one of the largest human colonies in the region? The people of Elysium were now right in the middle of it, and it was up to Shepard and the other alliance personnel to defend them. Right now, the planetary guard ere defending the outer reaches of one the minor cities where Shepard was stationed, his group was acting as a reserve and to also help any stragglers out of the city.

"Listen up," the Marine Captain who had taken charge of their group bellowed, "we just got word the raiders hit the outer edge of the city five minutes ago, and their air support is right behind them. The tactical situation in the city is simply untenable, we've gotten most of the civilians out and we don't have the manpower to hold the city; we're pulling out to reinforce the capital."

"Sir?" Shepard spoke up, "there's bound to be stragglers still in the city, people too afraid to come out of hiding."

"We just don't have the resources to hold the city for that long, Lieutenant, these are our orders and we will follow..."

An explosion blew out the windows of the restaurant they had been using as their CP, and the men inside quickly grabbed their weapons and ran out into the street. There was a crater near one of the gunnery emplacements in the middle of the street where they had erected a barricade, the soldiers manning the anti tank mass accelerator were down and the gun appeared to be damaged.

"Looks like the air support was early," Shepard quipped as he extended his avenger assault rifle and manned the barricade with the other soldiers. From down the boulevard came multiple soldiers dressed in planetary guard garb were running towards them, many firing blindly.

"_Raiders hit our position less then five minutes ago, we're pulling back_," the lead one said over the COM.

Suddenly, two of the guardsmen went down, the victim of a mantis gunship in pirate colors strafing the road as it made a pass overhead. Two missiles were let loose and one struck the left side of their barricade, sending more men flying. The second malfunctioned and struck the building next to them, showering the remaining troops with debris.

"Get the wounded out of there and fall back!" The Captain cried as he personally helped one of the wounded. Shepard looked out over the barricade to see a mob of slavers and pirates following the guardsmen, shooting at them. One unlucky soldiers shields collapsed with a pop and was taken down when the slugs passed through his armor. The other guardsmen made it to their position and leaped over the barricade, some helping the remaining wounded as Shepard and his group began laying down covering fire. A couple of the slavers were wielding heavy weapons, and were firing in their direction.

"Go, I'll keep you covered," Shepard said to the soldier next to him. Shepard kept firing even though the audible alarm indicated his gun's heat sync was about to be maxed out.

"Lieutenant, get your ass out of there!" The Captain yelled as he and the other soldiers fell back. Shepard was about to leave when he saw one of the soldiers thought to have been killed begin to stir. Shepard ran over to that soldier's position by the anti tank gun and did a quick scan with his omni tool to confirm the soldier's vitals; she was alive, but hurt pretty bad.

"Forget her and move, soldier!" The Captain yelled. "We can't hold this position."

"Go, I'll cover you!" Shepard yelled back as he fired a few more shots over the barricade at the advancing raider mob. There was no way he could get this wounded soldier out of here by himself, and his squad couldn't risk coming back for him. At the same time, the raiders would likely catch up to his squad before they could make it out of the city, then do god knows what to whoever was still left inside. Shepard had to quickly formulate a plan to stop them, but didn't have the manpower or the firepower to take out that entire group. That's when Shepard saw the anti tank mass accelerator, if it was still upright he could have blown through the raiders. Looking closer, he could see the gun was pointed at the damaged building hit by the arrant raider missile. The building was pretty badly damaged, Shepard thought if he could hit a support column...

John sprang into action on his omni tool, connecting it to the gun's firing control mechanism, hoping it was still operational. The gun was still working, but of course his omni tool was flashing a warning indicating the gun was damaged. Shepard didn't know if it would impede it from firing, but there wasn't time to second guess so he typed in the other to fire. The mass accelerator fired off a burst of three rounds into the building that sent more debris into the streets, and causing the raiders to scatter. It wouldn't save them as two floors of the building gave way and to Shepard's relief the rest of the building was tipping towards the street. With no time to waste, Shepard quickly activated a distress beacon on his omni tool and quickly covered the fallen soldier's body with his own as the building fell down nearly on top of him. Shepard's vision soon went dark as all light was obscured by the cloud of dust and debris of the impact.

**XXX**

It was nearly three hours before they pulled Shepard and the soldier he'd been protecting from the rubble that had buried them. The female soldier was still critical, but the medic on site expected her to make it. The soldiers in Shepard's makeshift unit were applauding him as the combat engineers pulled him free. He was told only a few raiders had survived the collapse of the building, and promptly retreated. The fact they weren't doing very well in space against the SSV _Agincourt_ didn't help their morale, and the raiders were in retreat. Within two months, Shepard had a promotion and the Star of Terra on his CSV. For years afterword, Shepard's reputation during the blitz followed him wherever he went, and was only eclipsed by his even higher profile as a Spectre.

* * *

**Date: October 16, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- _Normandy_**

Tali had heard of the Skyllian Blitz of course, and knew that Shepard had been one of the heroes of that battle through extranet research. The Migrant Fleet had somewhat owed the humans for that battle, as pirate and slaver raids were less frequent after such a devastating loss. But hearing Shepard talk about his heroics during the battle so humbly only seemed to enamor her more. Tali admitted to herself that her little girlish crush she had on the Commander during their first adventure had clearly grown into something more, but she could never confess that to Shepard.

"To be honest, Tali, I could care less about being decorated for what I did. I just did what needed to be done," Shepard confessed.

"You deserved it though," Tali said, "you've done so many selfless things, saving the colonists on Feros when everyone else gave them up for dead. You also risked your life to save the people of Terra Nova, and were willing to go back for Lieutenant Alenko..." Tali stopped for a moment, knowing that was probably still a sensitive topic with Shepard. "you took us off the mission to go to my trial... you shouldn't feel like you don't deserve some form of thanks for what you've done. I just wish I just new how I could thank you for what you've done for me."

"Tali, just being here is good enough for me," Shepard said causing the Quarian to blush, but was of course unseen by Shepard. "You and Garrus agreeing to come with me on my mission helped, its nice to have people onboard that I can really trust and count on."

Tali was somewhat put off by Shepard's comment, that she was just on par with Garrus as a "loyal friend". Its not like she had expected Shepard to reciprocate what she felt, no matter how badly she wanted him too.

"I uh, have to go.. get the drive core ready for the overhaul," Tali said, wanting to get away and put her mind on something other then the object of her desires. And Shepard just sat at the table and watched her go, wondering if he had said something wrong.

* * *

**Date: October 16, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach- CASTLE base**

Brigadier General Case sat in her office, awaiting a message from Colonel Ackerson via COM buoy. As she spoke the object in question had just emerged from slipspace and transmitted its highly encrypted data burst to the Visagrad relay on Reach. ONI AIs filted and decoded the message which was then transmitted to CASTLE and directed to the General's office. The General read the text, which contained the codewords that Ackerson and she agreed upon when it was decided to proceed to the next phase of their plan. Case opened up a COM link to her contact and was quickly connected to the man in question.

"Mr Williamson, you're free to leak the information you were sent earlier. The cipher is being transmitted along with this message."

Case closed the COM channel before thee man had a chance to thank the General, and turned to her guest. "You understand what your mission is now, Captain Osman?"

ONI spook Captain Serin Osman shifted in her chair, she had always been uncomfortable with Army involvement in ONI, but they had always proved to be an effective smokescreen.

"Colonel Holland's not gonna like the fact I'm usurping control of his team," Osman said.

"Noble is made up of Navy personnel on loan to Army command, on paper everything is completely legal," Case said. "Holland isn't in the need to know, even though Ackerson is is friend and got him command of Noble in the first place; we know he doesn't take well to off the book black ops like this. Parangosky made it clear this stays in ONI and only with people that can be trusted."

"I do understand how sensitive the mission is, General," Osman replied steely. "Halsey working with the _Normandy_ is a serious situation."

"Which is why we need to act preemptively to make sure they avoid contact," Case said. "You have your orders, Captain. We go dark after this until the initial fallout has blown over, then you'll get new orders."

**XXX**

A couple floors down, Admiral Whitcomb was undergoing his morning briefing by Captain Smith of ONI as well as Ambassador Fox. Captain Smith had stepped out for a moment at the request of his aide as Fox was going over the meeting with the admiralty board.

"I don't see why we can't let this Doctor Chase proceed with her request to assist these frindge Quarians," Whitcomb said, "anything we can do increase relations will go a long way."

"As do I, to be stuck in a suit like that for so long. Its hard to believe we may have ended up like the Quarians," Fox said. "The Covenant were poised to strike at our heart, but now we have time and allies to fight back."

"That we do, Ambassador," Whitcomb said. The Admiral was of course privy to certain contingency plans that the ambassador wasn't; including the massive exodus project still in the planning stages. At that moment, Captain Smith rushed back into the room.

"Admiral, I suggest you turn on ESN, we have a serious problem."

The Admiral hit a few Keyes on his desk and the screen on the wall connected to the NetLink and tuned to the Earth-Space News. The images on the screen told him they indeed had a serious problem.

* * *

**Date: October 16, 2552 ][ Location: Epsilon Eridani system/Reach orbit- _Normandy_**

The _Normandy_ had docked with the Anchor 9 anchorage, one of several in reach orbit that managed accompanying automated drydocks for various UNSC frigates. The engineers on the station had retrofitted an airlock on the station to enable the _Normandy_ to dock via the shuttlebay, to facilitate cargo transfers. The bay was strewn with supplies as Normandy crew members and UNSC personnel sorted through the materials being brought aboard for the resupply. Gardner was managing it all, with Donnelly and Gabby sorting through looking for their needed replacement components to make sure they were fabricated to exact specs. Gardner was especially happy to learn Shepard had managed to get Grade-C UNSC provisions, which were among the best in the fleet according to Sergeant Johnson. Shepard had come down to the bay to look over the effort, but also to check in with a fairly neglected crewmember.

Linda-058 had been an interesting addition to his crew, but there was no doubting that the Spartan was a valuable asset. Seeing them in action a month ago had even impressed Grunt, who was thought to be the strongest crewmember; a betting pool had been started among the crew as to who would win in a fight. Unfortunately that was the extent of the crew's interaction with her, no one interacted with her and she didn't make any attempt to do the same, most of the crew seemed to think she was content to stay by herself aside from her daily trips to the armory. Jacob simply said the two had developed a rapport and interest in designing a simple mass effect derived gun to be easily manufactured and used by the UNSC; that didn't stop the rumor mill from proposing that something else was going on.

"Commander," Linda acknowledged as she continued to service her disassembled sniper rifle on a small table at the back of the bay. Behind her was the hatch to her small quarters which contained a small bed and locker for her belongings. The bed was currently take up by her disassembled MJOLNIR armor, and the room locked whenever she was out of it; she preferred to do her day to day routine in the shuttle bay.

"Linda, just thought I'd check in with you, see how you're settling in."

"I'm doing fine Commander, Operative Taylor has been very welcoming to me and I enjoy working with him, you have a very talented crew under your command."

"We do our best, Shepard said. Are you comfortable down here?

"Its adequate, I do prefer the space and the silence, its easier to concentrate on my routine," the Spartan explained, "though I do have one complaint."

"I'm all ears, let me know what I can do to help."

Linda simply pointed at the gallery on the engineering deck. Looking down at them was none other than Jack, who quickly turned away and made it look like she was walking to starboard cargo to have a drink with Zaeed.

"She's observed me "covertly" multiple times since I've come aboard. I've decided not to confront her but I am curious as to her behavior," Linda explained.

"I'll have a talk with her if that helps," Shepard said. He decided to forgo his next suggestion that they modify one of the empty spaces between the engineering sections and the pressure hull into larger quarters for the Spartan, mainly because they were located next to Jack's den.

"Commander Shepard!"

Shepard turned to see Captain Kirkland waving him over to the middle of the bay. The Commander walked over and greeted the operations head.

"Has your crew verified you have everything you need?" He asked.

"Yes, the spare parts will go a long way, for a warship _Normandy_ has a few fragile bits a pieces," Shepard said. "I wanted to thank you for throwing in the C Rations, it'll go a long way toward helping morale."

"Hell, I wanted to throw a banquet," Kirkland joked, "you people have done a lot for us, its the least we can do to thank you."

"I appreciate that, Captain" Shepard said.

Shepard then saw Mordin re-enter the Normandy with Doctor Halsey in tow, a small cart of boxes and other equipment following the pair closely behind.

"Hello again, Commander. Permission to come aboard?" Halsey politely requested.

"Permission granted, Doctor, just make sure you and Mordin don't create a black hole in the lab," Shepard replied.

"Gravitational singularity creation waste of collective talents. Would not dream of wasting time on something mundane," Mordin joked.

"_Shepard, get up here, we have a serious problem planet side,"_ Miranda's voice cut in over the intercom; she didn't sound happy.

Shepard motioned for Kirkland to follow him into the elevator along with Halsey and Mordin. They reached the CIC to find Miranda standing in front of the galaxy map which was displaying images of the _Normandy_ in orbit of Reach and approaching Anchor 9

"Oh no, this is ESN," Kirkland said, pointing to the small logo in the bottom corner.

"_This ship, which matches no known UNSC design but clearly has English writing on its hull. Its not know if this is some prototype or possibly a new ship developed with the Quarians, but the fact is it does not officially exist on paper, and that Anchor 9 was evacuated of non essential personnel prior to its arrival."_

"_...That was Brad Williamson with a special report on this mystery ship named Normandy that is at this moment docked with the anchor 9 facility over reach. UNSC officials have issued no public comment..."_

"This broadcast aired half an hour ago; Admiral Whitcomb wants to come aboard personally this afternoon to discuss a cover story," Miranda explained.

"I have also received a dozen communication requests from non UNSC channels, several of which identified themselves as members of the civilian press," EDI reported.

Shepard just rubbed his forehead, this was going to be a long day.

* * *

**Date: October 16, 2552 ][ Location: Zeta Doradus system/Onyx- Camp Currahee **

Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose looked at the parade grounds in the distance where half of the current SPARTAN-III Gamma Company were engaged in morning work out while the other half rotated through the chow hall for breakfast. Kurt had been ordered to prepare Gamma for activation, which consisted of breaking down the company into platoons for high risk deployment, headhunter pairs to be sent behind enemy lines, and black ops squads for assignment to ONI; that would be done through the top honors competition next week. At least it would have had Ackerson not shown up in person three days ado on their monthly supply transport and effectively suspended the mobilization orders. The Colonel was just sitting in front of him in his private office, going over the proposal involving the five small canisters of element zero he just showed him, and had just left to let the information sink in.

Kurt had to admit, he was impressed with the Quarians grasp of advanced technology, that if successfully adapted could turn the tide of the war in humanity's favor. Though he had a hard time understanding their origins, and the small ship called _Normandy_ that accompanied the Quarians to their universe. The observations of Normandy and their codex, as well as a few bribed Quarians for more detailed intelligence were their only sources of information for what Ackerson wanted to attempt. Kurt looked over the datapad again, the AIs had crunched the numbers and determined the best possible way to prevent some of the side effects talked about in the codex. Ackerson had also pulled the fact Kurt himself had the S-IIIs augmented in his own special way to get Kurt to go along with his plan. A part of Kurt was also intrigued by Ackerson's proposal.

"Spartan biotics". That extra talent could significantly improve their odds of survival, and maybe this time he wouldn't have a repeat of Alpha and Beta companies. He just saw this risky project as yet another way to help protect his Spartans.

If only his future self could tell him what would happen.

* * *

Well, its Mass Effect 3 launch day and I thought you all deserved an update by now. I know some of you got the scoop when I posted my fake Chapter/SOPA protest a few weeks ago, but for those who didn't here's why I was gone for so long. Late last year I was heavily involved with school work and a small theatrical production, so I had no free time. When I did have free time, I was struck with the sudden death of a friend and had a difficult time coping. Things are better now in that department, but stuff at college is shaping up to be a repeat of last year (school work and another play are eating up my time).

I hope this update has satisfied your long wait, and I'm sorry for taking so long. I'm gonna be realistic and say you won't see another update until late next month or the month after. But it will reiterate what I've said before, I want to finish this fic. Its unique in that its the first story I've planned from start to finish, I know how I wanted it to start and I know how I want it to end, and I want to share that progression with you. So as a little treat in honor of ME3 launch day, here's a taste of things to come.

* * *

Shepard had the crew muster on the shuttlebay, all but himself, Joker and EDI would surrender to the authorities. Shepard wasn't about to let his crew be punished for actions he took alone, but they weren't ready to abandon ship. He had to lobby hard to get them to take the shuttles over to the _Autumn_ before it was too late, and even then the core team volunteered to stay with their Commander until the end.

There was no speech or goodbyes, just the crew packing into the two shuttles and Pelican that was docked underneath the bay, as Shepard watched them leave.

The elevator door opened and the last group stepped out; the CIC crew and Miranda, and Tali...

Tali.

Ordering her off the ship was too hard, that's why he couldn't go to engineering personally to explain why she couldn't stay, he couldn't muster the strength. As she passed the Commander on the way to the shuttle reserved for the squad, she lost all composure and ran into Shepard's arms.

"I won't leave you, John" she said though the tears. Not caring that she was making a scene in the middle of the bay.

"I can't let you stay, this is something I have to do alone," he said. "I promise that when this is over, I'll find you."

* * *

What exactly happened to have Shepard order the crew to abandon ship? Guess you'll have to wait and see when we get there. Anyway, to those who took time out of their busy day fighting off the reaper invasion to check out this update, get back to it, the reapers aren't gonna defeat themselves. Perhaps ME3 will spur me into getting an update out sooner, we'll see.

Take back Earth.


	11. Message from the author

Ok, I know you hate reading these messages as much as I hate posting them, but its been too long since you guys heard anything from this story, and given the controversy surrounding the Mass Effect 3 endings its high time I responded. I've played the game and the Extended Cut, and I want to get one thing straight, I am NOT a supporter of the indoctrination theory, and here's why. I've taken a realistic look at the endings and have come to one conclusion; they are a rush job that was cobbled together with a ripped off idea, and divided into three options with little to no variation in outcome. Oh, and did I mention they completely disregard EVERY decision you've ever made in the past three games.

The indoctrination theory is intriguing, but when you take it out of the in game-context, does it really make sense? I'm something of a realist occasionally, and like you I didn't know what to make of the endings, until I started doing a little research. One of the first things that jumped out at me was ME3's release date; it had initially been targeted for a holiday 2011 launch, but was pushed back three months to its eventual date in March. No real explanation was given for this change, but after the controversy of the endings started to propagate a few tales from inside the tight lipped Bioware studios started to leak onto the web. Most are about the plot line involving dark energy alluded to in Mass Effect 2, and how the ending was going to be about how the reapers in fact wipe out every race to prevent a fatal build up of dark energy caused by none other than Mass Effect technology. That ending makes sense because it ties into the very title of the series; Mass Effect, the same way Halo is about the Halo rings. And if they wanted the explanation of the reapers existence to be about the repeating cycle of synthetics killing organics, they should have called the series Battlestar Galactica instead of Mass Effect. Yes, that's right, the whole explanation of repeating cycles of organics being destroyed by the synthetics they create was Battlestar Galactica's "grand explanation" first.

Obviously, some of the problems of the endings have been mitigated with the release of the Extended Cut DLC, which I can honestly say provided some closure. The fact Bioware still fucked up the first time will never make me buy a single Bioware/EA game again. That said, some plots holes were opened with the EC, and some that weren't even part of the endings weren't closed. I could go into detail, but this isn't the place for that. At this point, the only way we fans can truly satisfy our desire for an ending is through fanfiction.

And that brings me to the fate of Shattered Universes, and I can for now say that unlike some of my fellow authors who've chosen to end their stories, dismayed at the ending to Mass Effect 3, I am not one of them. That being said, there are a multitude of real life issues keeping me away from the word processor, and the future doesn't look too good when it comes to the amount of free time I'll have. Also, the upcoming election could weigh heavily on whether this story continues, see my profile for details as to why.

Since I'm going continuing this story, you should know that most if not all of Halo 4's story will be ignored. In the last chapter, I included some material from the postwar series of Halo books, but they will likely be ignored as well. As for the Forerunner trilogy, I've only just started book 2, so I couldn't tell you how much of that is gonna appear. I'm doing this because like I've said so many times, I knew how I wanted this fic to start and end, as well as everything in between. If I'm gonna stick to that, I can't retroactively adapt the story to fit the incoming books and games. If and when I play Halo 4 and read the rest of the books I will determine what I can include if possible.

I wish all my readers a good summer, and I'll see if I can at least get you a couple new chapters before fall. If you have any questions, either review or drop me a PM.

-General MB


End file.
